i. 


THE  1  IBRARY 


[HE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  CAL IFORNIA 


LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 

JAMES  J.  MC   BRIEE 


\v 
tor 


KIRKCALDY 
OF  GRANGE 


FAMOUS  SCOTS   SERIES 

The  following  Volumes  are  now  ready: — 

THOMAS  CARLYLE.     By  HECTOR  C.  MACPHERSON. 

ALLAN  RAMSAY.    By  OLIPHANT  SMEATON. 

HUGH  MILLER.     By  W.  KEITH  LEASK. 

JOHN  KNOX.    By  A.  TAYLOR  INNES. 

ROBERT  BURNS.    By  GABRIEL  SETOUN. 

THE  BALLADISTS.    By  JOHN  GEDDIE. 

RICHARD  CAMERON.    By  Professor  HERKLESS. 

SIR  JAMES  Y.  SIMPSON.    By  EVE  BLANTYRE  SIMPSON. 

THOMAS    CHALMERS.        By    Professor    W.    GARDEN 
BLAIKIE. 

JAMES  BOSWELL.    By  W.  KEITH  LEASK. 
TOBIAS  SMOLLETT.     By  OLIPHANT  SMEATON. 
FLETCHER  OF  SALTOUN.     By  G.  W.  T.  OMOND. 
THE  BLACKWOOD  GROUP.     By  Sir  GEORGE  DOUGLAS. 
NORMAN  MACLEOD.     By  JOHN  WELLWOOD. 
SIR  WALTER  SCOTT.     By  Professor  SAINTSBURY. 
KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE.     By  Louis  A.  BARBE. 


J 

KIRKCALDY 
OF  GRANGE 

BY 

:     LOUIS 

A:  BAR  BE 

FAMOUS 
•SCOTS- 
•SERIES' 


PUBLISHED    BY    I 
CHARLES     »»*<ia 

SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK 


DA 
T87 


PREFACE 

THE  materials  available  for  a  biography  of  Sir  William 
Kirkcaldy  of  Grange  are  very  unequally  distributed  over 
the  two  portions  into  which  his  life  naturally  divides 
itself.  For  the  first  of  them,  I  have  been  obliged  to 
content  myself  with  the  rather  meagre  and  fragmentary 
information  to  be  gathered  from  the  old  chroniclers.  As 
regards  the  incidents  that  occur  during  those  earlier  years, 
I  cannot,  therefore,  claim  much  novelty  for  my  sketch. 
By  looking  closely  into  dates,  however,  I  have  been  able 
to  rectify  some  minor  details,  and  to  set  forth  events  in 
their  proper  sequence. 

On  the  second  part  of  Sir  William's  public  career,  the 
documents  preserved  in  the  Record  Office  throw  con- 
siderable light.  Some  of  them  have  been  utilised,  to  a 
certain  extent,  in  connection  with  the  general  history  of 
the  time ;  but,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  attempt  has  yet  been 
made  to  base  on  them  a  connected  narrative  of  this 
important  period  of  Grange's  life,  or  to  draw  from  them 
an  explanation  of  his  policy.  By  using  his  own  corre- 
spondence— both  the  letters  which  he  wrote,  and  those 
which  were  addressed  to  him — I  have  endeavoured  to 
represent  the  man  as  he  wished  to  be  understood  by  his 
contemporaries. 

It  has  not  been  my  special  object  to  justify  Kirkcaldy's 

s 

"  712533 


6  PREFACE 

conduct ;  but  I  am  not  without  the  hope  that  the  impartial 
account  of  it  which  I  have  striven  to  give,  may  show  how 
unfair  it  is  to  form  an  estimate  of  him  from  a  considera- 
tion of  the  bare  fact  that  he  was,  in  turn,  the  champion  of 
two  conflicting  parties. 

L.  A.  B. 

8  WILTON  MANSIONS,  GLASGOW, 
October  1897. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

THE  KIRKCALDYS      ......  9 

CHAPTER  II 
THE  TRAGEDY  AT  ST  ANDREWS     .  .  .  .18 

CHAPTER  III 
THE  CONSPIRATORS  AT  BAY  ....         26 

CHAPTER  IV 
IN  FRANCE    .  .  .  .  .  .  .41 

CHAPTER  V 
HOME  AGAIN  ......          53 

CHAPTER  VI 
THE  UPROAR  OF  RELIGION  ....         63 

CHAPTER  VII 
HARASSING  THE  FRENCH     .....         73 

CHAPTER  VIII 
AT  CARBERRY  ....  80 


8  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IX 

PAGB 

LANGSIDE — AND  AFTER       .....         97 

CHAPTER  X 
DEFECTION?  .......        108 

CHAPTER  XI 
THE  HOLDING  OF  THE  CASTLE      ....        125 

CHAPTER  XII 
THE  MERCAT  CROSS  .  .  ,  .          -137 


7.    THE  KIRKCALDYS 

IN  the  parish  of  Kinghorn,  on  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Firth  of  Forth,  a  farm-house  known  as  the  Grange  still 
marks  the  spot  where,  three  centuries  ago,  the  ancestral 
seat  of  the  Kirkcaldys  stood.  The  greater  part  of  the 
present  structure  is  comparatively  modern  ;  yet  it  bears 
a  look  of  antiquity  which  indicates  that  its  transformation 
has  been  gradual  and  fragmentary,  and  not  wholly  un- 
influenced by  the  design  of  the  original  builder.  The 
only  date  to  be  seen  about  it  figures,  accompanied  with 
an  illegible  monogram,  on  the  lintel  of  what  is  now  an 
inner  door,  and  commemorates  some  addition  or  alteration 
made  in  1687.  Two  portions,  however,  show  traces  of 
even  greater  age,  and  may,  with  some  plausibility,  be 
looked  upon  as  relics  of  the  old  baronial  mansion.  They 
are  a  dovecot,  and  a  flanking  tower  of  solid  masonry.  A 
low  recess,  near  the  foot  of  the  latter,  is  traditionally 
believed  to  have  been  the  entrance  to  a  subterranean 
passage  leading  down  to  the  shore,  beneath  the  village 
which  the  cottages  of  the  dependents  of  the  family  formed, 
and  on  the  site  of  which  a  few  dwellings  still  cluster 
together.  That,  in  the  days  when  the  prosperity  of 
the  Lairds  of  Grange  was  at  its  height,  this  village  was 
of  some  size  and  importance,  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  it  possessed  a  chapel  of  its  own,  dedicated  to 
St  Mary,  and  used  as  a  burial-place  for  the  family. 

9 


io  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

The  Kirkcaldys,  who  took  their  territorial  appellation 
from  their  estate  of  Grange,  and  who  probably  derived 
their  name  from  the  ancient  town  near  which  that  baronial 
seat  was  situated,  were  amongst  the  oldest  and  most  in- 
fluential families  in  the  county  of  Fife.  As  early  as  the 
thirteenth  century,  Sir  William  de  Kirkcaldy  is  mentioned 
amongst  the  nobles  on  whom  the  fortune  of  war  imposed 
temporary  submission  to  Edward  I.,  and  who  were  com- 
pelled solemnly  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  him,  on 
the  Gospels,  in  presence  of  his  Commissioners.  In  1 440, 
the  name  of  Sir  George  de  Kirkcaldy  appears  in  a  charter 
which  made  over  to  him  one  half  of  the  lands  of  Seafield 
and  of  Tyrie. 

About  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  family 
of  Kirkcaldy  was  represented  by  Sir  James,  who,  having 
married  Janet,  daughter  of  his  neighbour  Sir  John 
Melville  of  Raith,  was  introduced  by  his  father-in-law 
to  the  court  and  service  of  King  James  V.  He  was  first 
appointed  to  be  a  simple  Gentleman  of  the  Privy  Chamber, 
but  was  soon  afterwards  advanced  to  the  more  important 
and  responsible  post  of  Treasurer.  The  confidence  and 
favour  with  which  he  was  honoured  by  his  royal  master 
excited  the  jealousy  and  the  fear  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  to 
whom  he  was  opposed  in  religion,  as  an  adherent  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  and  in  politics,  as  an  ardent 
advocate  of  an  alliance  with  England.  All  the  efforts  of 
his  rival  to  bring  about  his  fall  proved  ineffectual  as  long 
as  the  King  lived.  Under  the  regency  of  the  Earl  of 
Arran,  however,  the  influence  of  the  Churchman  pre- 
vailed ;  and  the  Treasurer  was  set  aside  to  make  room 
for  John  Hamilton,  abbot  of  Paisley. 

Contemporary  chronicles  testify  to  the  important  part 
played  by  Sir  James  Kirkcaldy  during  the  troubled  days 
of  his  tenure  of  office.  He  is  described  by  Melville  as 
1  a  stout  bold  man,  who  always  offered  by  single  combat, 
and  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  to  maintain  what  he  spoke.' 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  n 

That,  in  those  turbulent  times,  the  fiery  and  rather  over- 
bearing temper  of  which  these  words  are  only  a  veiled 
and  too  partial  description,  should  have  brought  trouble 
upon  him,  was  but  a  natural  consequence ;  and  it  is  not 
surprising  to  learn  from  the  evidence  of  a  remission 
granted  him  in  1538,  that  respect  for  law  and  order 
did  not  always  guide  his  conduct.  A  few  years  later, 
the  energy  of  his  character  showed  itself  in  the  prompt 
and  decisive  action  which  he  took  under  circumstances 
as  critical  for  the  State  as  they  were  dangerous  to  his 
liberty,  and  even  to  his  life.  It  was  he  who,  with  Sir 
Thomas  Erskine  and  Sir  James  Learmonth,  on  the 
authority  of  a  verbal  message  brought  to  him  by  a 
youth,  and  with  the  King's  ring  for  his  sole  warrant, 
ordered  the  arrest  of  Sir  James  Hamilton,  the  powerful 
and  notorious  Bastard  of  Arran,  lodged  him  in  the  Castle, 
brought  him  to  immediate  trial  on  a  charge  of  being  in 
secret  intelligence  with  the  banished  Earl  of  Angus,  the 
Douglasses,  and  other  declared  enemies  of  the  realm,  and 
of  having  formed  a  plot  to  break  into  the  King's  chamber 
to  slay  him,  and  sent  him  to  a  traitor's  doom  before 
influence  could  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  fickle 
monarch  in  favour  of  his  former  favourite. 

It  was  to  the  Treasurer  that  the  delicate  negotiations 
between  James  V.  and  his  uncle  Henry  VIII.  were  en- 
trusted; and  it  was  owing  to  his  influence  that,  whilst 
the  King  of  England  was  at  Pomfret,  during  his  northern 
progress,  'one  of  the  King  of  Scots'  most  secret  coun- 
cillors '  appeared  at  the  Court,  to  arrange  a  meeting  be- 
tween the  sovereigns.  Unfortunately  for  Sir  James's 
scheme,  his  opponents  discovered  it  at  the  critical  moment. 
For  the  purpose  of  bringing  him  into  discredit,  they 
accused  him  of  favouring  the  new  creed,  as  in  truth  he 
did,  though  he  had  not  yet  made  public  profession  of  it ; 
and  they  put  his  name  on  a  list  of  noblemen  whom  they 
urged  the  King  to  burn  as  heretics.  But  inconstant  though 


12  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

he  was,  James  was  not  so  easily  to  be  turned  against  his 
Treasurer,  for  he  believed  him  to  be  loyal,  trustworthy,  and 
thoroughly  devoted  to  his  sovereign's  interests.  At  their 
next  meeting,  he  showed  Sir  James  the  black  roll,  and 
jestingly,  or  perhaps  only  half  jestingly,  asked  him  what 
objection  he  could  raise  to  the  Churchmen's  suggestions. 
Having  thus  been  invited  to  plead  his  cause,  Kirkcaldy 
availed  himself  to  the  utmost  of  the  opportunity  which 
the  King's  good-nature  afforded  him.  Not  only  did  he 
draw  a  glowing  picture  of  the  advantages  which  would 
accrue  to  both  sovereign  and  people  from  an  alliance  with 
England,  and  warningly  point  out  the  danger  of  rejecting 
King  Henry's  friendly  advances,  he  also  denounced  the 
selfish  policy  of  his  opponents,  represented  the  gross  abuses 
of  the  Roman  Church,  inveighed  against  the  ungodly  and 
scandalous  lives  of  the  prelates,  and  advised  the  King,  not 
indeed  to  send  the  Cardinal  and  his  bishops  to  the  stake, 
as  they  wished  to  do  by  their  enemies,  but,  if  he  would 
be  well  and  rich,  to  take  home  again  to  the  profit  of  the 
Crown  all  vacant  benefices,  by  little  and  little,  as  they  fell 
by  the  death  of  each  prelate.  The  proposal  to  turn  the 
tables  on  the  Churchmen,  besides  holding  out  a  promise 
of  much-needed  pecuniary  help,  contained  an  element  of 
grim  humour,  which,  for  the  time  at  least,  caught  the 
King's  fancy ;  and  his  resolve  to  adopt  it  was  so  far  sincere, 
that  it  led  to  a  characteristic  scene  at  his  next  conference 
with  the  Cardinal  and  his  prelates  at  Holyrood.  Gradually 
working  himself  into  a  passion  as  he  rebuked  them  for 
their  treacherous  and  cruel  advice,  he  disconcerted  them 
by  his  indignant  words  and  impetuous  threats  of  violence. 
'  Wherefore,'  he  asked,  '  gave  my  predecessors  so  many 
lands  and  rents  to  the  Kirk  ?  Was  it  to  maintain  hawks, 
dogs,  and  concubines,  to  a  number  of  idle  priests  ?  Pack, 
you  javells  !  Get  you  to  your  charges,  and  reform  your 
own  lives ;  and  be  not  instruments  of  discord  betwixt  my 
nobility  and  me,  or  else,  I  vow  to  God,  I  shall  reform 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  13 

you,  not  as  the  King  of  Denmark  doth,  by  imprisonment, 
nor  yet  as  the  King  of  England  doth,  by  hanging  and 
heading,  but  by  sharper  punishments ;  if  ever  I  hear  such 
a  motion  made  by  you  again,  I  shall  stick  you  with  this 
whingar ! '  And  as  he  drew  his  dagger  to  emphasize  his 
meaning,  the  terrified  priests,  more  careful  of  their  personal 
safety  than  of  their  dignity,  precipitately  fled  from  his 
presence. 

This  temporary  check  did  not  discourage  the  Treasurer's 
opponents.  As  a  proof  that  they,  too,  were  actuated  by 
disinterested  and  patriotic  motives,  they  offered  to  make 
the  King  an  annual  grant  of  fifty  thousand  crowns,  out  of 
the  rents  of  the  Church,  for  the  maintenance  of  hired 
soldiers,  in  case  King  Henry  should  levy  war  against  him 
because  of  his  refusal  to  keep  his  promise  with  regard  to 
a  personal  interview  at  York.  Even  this  bribe  might  have 
failed  to  win  James  over  to  their  views  but  for  a  circum- 
stance which  deprived  him  for  a  while  of  the  counsel  and 
support  of  the  Treasurer.  He  had  lately  sanctioned  the 
betrothal  of  Helen  Leslie,  heiress  of  Kellie,  who  was  a 
ward  of  the  Crown,  to  Kirkcaldy's  second  son ;  and  Sir 
James  found  it  necessary  to  go  over  into  Angus  on  business 
connected  with  this  advantageous  matrimonial  alliance. 
His  rivals  did  not  neglect  to  make  the  most  of  the  oppor- 
tunity which  his  absence  from  Court  afforded.  They  re- 
newed the  charge  of  heresy  against  him,  basing  it  on  the 
fact  that  he  always  carried  an  English  version  of  the  New 
Testament  about  with  him  in  his  pocket ;  they  complained 
of  the  haughtiness  and  arrogance  which  had  characterized 
his  conduct  ever  since  he  thought  himself  secure  in  the 
King's  favour;  they  denounced  his  greed,  of  which  his 
anxiety  to  marry  his  son  to  an  heiress  with  a  dowry  of 
twenty  thousand  pounds  was  adduced  as  a  proof;  and 
they  questioned  his  fitness,  in  point  of  honesty,  for  the 
responsible  position  to  which  he  had  been  raised. 

Seeing  that  James  was  wholly  unmoved  by  accusations 


14  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

which  he  knew  to  be  prompted  by  malice  and  envy,  and 
which  he  met  by  unhesitatingly  declaring  his  esteem  and 
affection  for  Kirkcaldy,  to  whom,  if  he  had  not  done  it  al- 
ready, he  would  willingly  entrust  the  fortune  of  his  ward, 
they  insidiously  changed  their  tactics,  and  directed  their 
attack  against  what  they  well  knew  to  be  the  weakest  point 
in  the  dissolute  monarch's  character.  '  Sir,'  said  the  Prior 
of  Pittenweem,  himself  a  notorious  and  unscrupulous 
libertine,  'the  heiress  of  Kellie  is  a  lusty,  fair  lass,  and 
I  dare  pledge  my  life  that,  if  your  Majesty  will  send  for 
her  presently,  the  Treasurer  shall  refuse  to  send  her  to 
you.'  On  this  point,  too,  James  asserted  his  absolute 
confidence  in  Kirkcaldy's  fidelity  and  devotedness ;  never- 
theless he  so  far  yielded  to  the  tempters  as  to  consent  to 
their  putting  him  to  the  test.  The  plan  devised  by  them 
was,  that  a  letter  should  be  written  and  entrusted  to  the 
Prior  of  Pittenweem,  who  was  to  deliver  it  in  person,  and, 
if  the  Treasurer  obeyed  the  order  contained  in  it,  to  bring 
Helen  Leslie  to  the  King. 

The  event  was  precisely  such  as  had  been  anticipated 
when  choice  was  made  of  an  agent  who,  to  his  evil  reputa- 
tion joined  the  further  qualification  of  being  at  deadly 
enmity  with  the  Laird  of  Grange.  Sir  James  refused  to 
entrust  his  son's  intended  bride  to  the  unprincipled 
messenger,  at  whom  he  did  not  hesitate  to  cast  the  plain 
and  vigorous  epithets  which  his  flagrant  licentiousness 
deserved,  and  which  the  blunt  and  unconventional  lan- 
guage of  the  time  justified.  Rejoicing  in  the  failure 
of  his  mission  and  the  success  of  his  scheme,  the 
Prior  hastened  back  to  Edinburgh.  On  hearing  his  care- 
fully and  craftily  framed  report  of  what  had  taken  place, 
the  King  flew  into  a  violent  passion,  and  in  the  heat  of  it, 
consented  to  the  issue  of  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Sir 
James  as  soon  as  he  returned. 

When  the  Treasurer,  who  had  no  difficulty  in  pene- 
trating the  designs  of  his  enemies,  and  who  consequently 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  15 

followed  close  on  the  Prior's  heels,  presented  himself  at 
Holyrood,  he  was  refused  admittance.  Disregarding  the 
prohibition,  however,  he  made  his  way  to  the  presence 
of  the  King,  who  was  just  then  at  supper ;  but  only  to  be 
received  with  ominous  silence  by  the  angry  monarch.  This 
did  not  awe  him  into  a  passive  submission,  which  would 
have  been  interpreted  into  a  confession  of  guilt.  Respect- 
fully, yet  firmly,  addressing  his  sovereign,  he  begged  to 
be  told  what  offence  he  had  committed,  and  why  he  had 
suddenly  been  deprived  of  the  favour  with  which  he 
had  so  lately  been  honoured.  The  reply  was  such  as 
he  expected  it  would  be.  '  Why,'  asked  James,  '  why  did 
you  refuse  to  send  me  the  maiden  whom  I  wrote  for,  and 
give  despiteful  language  to  him  I  sent  for  her  ? '  Put  in 
this  form,  the  charge  was  easy  to  meet.  Kirkcaldy  dared 
anyone  present  to  accuse  him  of  disobedience  to  the  King's 
command.  He  had,  he  admitted,  declined  to  give  Helen 
Leslie  into  the  Prior's  keeping ;  but  his  refusal  was  justified 
by  the  messenger's  too  well-known  character — a  character 
which  he  did  not  veil  his  words  to  denounce.  Moreover, 
as  he  had  stated  at  the  time,  he  considered  himself  the 
fittest  person  to  accompany  the  young  lady  to  Court ;  and, 
in  proof  that  he  had  never  been  unwilling  to  yield  com- 
pliance to  the  King's  wishes,  he  was  able  to  answer  in  the 
affirmative  when  asked  whether  he  had  brought  the  gentle- 
woman with  him. 

James  understood  from  his  Treasurer's  undaunted 
manner,  no  less  than  from  his  straightforward  explanation, 
that  a  faithful  servant  had  been  falsely  accused  and  un- 
justly condemned;  but  if  he  could  recall  the  warrant 
which  had  been  extorted  from  him,  he  could  not  prevent 
the  consequences  of  a  more  momentous  step  which  he  had 
also  been  induced  to  take.  Beaton  and  his  party  had  pre- 
vailed on  him  to  adopt  their  policy,  and  decisively  to  reject 
the  proffered  alliance  with  England — a  slight  to  Henry, 
which  that  imperious  monarch  was  not  slow  to  resent,  and 


1 6  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  one  of  the  most  disas- 
trous and  humiliating  defeats  ever  inflicted  on  Scotland. 

Once  again  Sir  James  Kirkcaldy  figures  in  connection 
with  the  sovereign  whom  his  advice,  had  it  not  been  so 
petulantly  neglected,  might  have  saved  from  the  closing 
disaster  of  his  career.  After  the  ill-fated  battle  of  Solway 
Moss,  when  King  James  wandered  aimlessly  and  hope- 
lessly into  Fifeshire,  ashamed  to  look  any  man  in  the  face, 
it  was  to  Halyards,  one  of  the  Laird  of  Grange's  estates, 
that  he  came  for  rest  and  shelter.  The  Treasurer  was 
absent  at  the  time,  but  the  unfortunate  and  broken-hearted 
monarch  was  received  with  loyal  affection  by  Lady  Janet, 
an  'auncient  and  godlie  matron,'  and  waited  upon  during 
his  brief  stay  by  her  eldest  son,  William  Kirkcaldy.  The 
youth  was  destined  to  behold  many  a  sorrowful  scene  in 
after  years,  yet  few  so  pathetic  and  so  impressive  as  that 
of  which  he  was  a  silent  spectator  on  the  memorable 
evening  of  the  King's  stay.  At  supper,  James  sat  pensive 
and  dejected,  unable  to  realise  the  full  extent  of  the 
disaster  that  had  fallen  upon  him,  and  inwardly  repeating 
his  '  continuall  regrate ' :  '  Oh  !  Oh  !  Fled  Oliver  ?  Is 
Oliver  taken  ?  Oh  !  Fled  Oliver  ? '  Lady  Grange,  in  a 
kindly  attempt  to  comfort  him,  begged  him  to  take  the 
work  of  God  in  good  part.  But  his  incoherent  answer 
showed  how  little  he  had  understood  her  meaning.  '  My 
portion  of  this  world  is  short,'  he  said,  '  for  I  will  not  be 
with  you  fifteen  days.' 

To  break  the  distressing  silence  which  followed  the 
gloomy  reply,  one  of  the  attendants  inquired  where  his 
Majesty  wished  preparation  to  be  made  for  celebrating 
Christmas,  which  was  near  at  hand.  With  a  '  disdainful 
countenance,'  as  though  the  matter  were  one  with  which 
he  had  no  concern,  'I  cannot  tell,'  he  answered,  'choose 
you  the  place.  But  this  I  can  tell  you ;  before  Christmas 
you  will  be  masterless,  and  the  realm  without  a  king.' 
And  he  seemed  so  convinced  of  the  truth  of  his  prediction 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  17 

that,  although  there  was  no  sign  of  approaching  death  about 
him,  none  dared  contradict  him  for  fear  of  his  anger. 

Next  day  the  wretched  King  left  Halyards,  accompanied 
by  young  Kirkcaldy.  The  Treasurer  himself  joined  them 
a  little  later ;  and  both  father  and  son  were  amongst  the 
attendants  who  stood  about  the  dying  monarch  in  the 
palace  of  Falkland,  on  the  i3th  of  December  1542,  and 
vainly  strove  to  soothe  the  mighty  grief  which  found  ex- 
pression in  the  one  despairing  cry :  '  Fie  !  fie  !  Is  Oliver 
fled — and  taken  ?  Then  all  is  lost — all  is  lost ! ' 


//.     THE  TRAGEDY  AT  ST  ANDREWS 

WILLIAM  KIRKCALDY,  who  makes  his  first  appearance  in 
the  pages  of  history  as  the  attendant  of  James  V.  during 
the  brief  interval  between  the  shameful  rout  of  Solway 
Moss  and  the  last  melancholy  scene  at  Falkland,  is  usually 
represented  as  being  but  a  child  at  the  time.  No  record 
indicates  the  year  of  his  birth  ;  but  it  is  assumed  to  have 
taken  place  about  1530.  That,  however,  does  not  seem 
to  tally  with  the  known  dates  of  several  events  in  which 
he  and  other  members  of  his  family  bore  a  part. 

In  the  first  place,  if  it  be  not  impossible,  it  may  be 
looked  upon  as  at  least  improbable,  that  a  lad  of  twelve 
was  given  to  James  as  an  attendant,  under  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  his  visit  to  Halyards.  It  is  still  less 
likely  that,  whether  the  will  attributed  to  James  V.  be 
genuine,  or  fraudulent,  as  was  afterwards  maintained,  such 
a  mere  child  should  figure  amongst  the  witnesses  to  it, 
and  should,  as  the  document,  under  any  circumstances, 
fully  establishes,  have  been  allowed  to  be  present  at  the 
King's  last  moments.  Nor  does  it  agree  with  the  descrip- 
tion of  Lady  Grange  as  '  an  ancient  matron,'  that  the  eldest 
of  her  nine  children  should  have  been  so  young  at  the  time. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  it  is  mentioned  by  Melville 
that,  as  early  as  1542,  a  younger  brother,  James  Kirk- 
caldy,  had  obtained  '  the  ward  and  marriage  of  Kellie  in 
Angus,'  and  that  his  father,  the  Treasurer,  had  'gone 
there  to  take  possession  thereof  whilst  the  negotiations 
with  Henry  VIII.  were  still  pending.  The  difficulty  of 
believing  that  the  betrothal  of  James  Kirkcaldy — if, 
indeed,  the  passage  do  not  actually  refer,  as  some  have 

18 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  19 

thought,  to  his  marriage — took  place  when  he  was  at 
most  but  eleven  years  old,  naturally  suggests  doubts  as  to 
the  accuracy  of  the  date  assigned  to  his  elder  brother's 
birth.  Such  early  matrimonial  engagements  were  not, 
it  is  true,  unknown,  or  even  uncommon,  in  those  days ; 
but  that  the  intended  bride,  at  least,  was  no  longer  in  her 
girlhood  may  fairly  be  inferred  from  the  details  of  the 
discreditable  plot  against  the  Treasurer,  in  which  the 
Prior  of  Pittenweem  made  her  play  a  part. 

All  that  can  be  ascertained  with  regard  to  Kirkcaldy's 
education  is  supplied  by  a  letter,  in  which  Randolph,  the 
English  agent,  writing  to  him,  makes  allusion  to  their 
early  acquaintance,  as  students,  in  France,  at  the  time 
that  the  University  of  Paris  was  presided  over  by  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine.  As  Randolph  was  born  in  1523, 
he  would  have  been  Kirkcaldy's  senior  by  seven  years, 
a  disparity  of  age  which  still  further  diminishes  the 
plausibility  of  the  theory  that  the  latter  was  born  in  1530. 
Yet  another  objection  to  it  may  be  gathered  from  a 
passage  in  Master  Randolph's  Fantasy,  a  poem  recording 
the  events  of  what  is  known  as  the  Round  About  Raid, 
in  1566.  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  is  mentioned  in  it, 
amongst  the  rebellious  nobles ;  and  the  special  reference 
to  his  '  horye  head '  would  unquestionably  seem  to  imply 
that  he  was  more  than  thirty-six  years  old  at  the  time. 
Finally,  it  is  known  that  Kirkcaldy's  only  daughter,  Janet, 
was  married  to  the  Laird  of  St  Colme's  Inch  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1561;  and  it  is  assuredly  not  easy 
to  make  that  fact  accord  with  the  assumed  date  of  her 
father's  birth. 

Such  are  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting  Grant's 
opinion,  that  Kirkcaldy's  birth  '  probably  took  place  about 
the  year  1530,'  or  Froude's  later  statement  that  'the 
Treasurer's  eldest  son'  was  'a  boy  of  about  seventeen,' 
in  the  year  1546.  None  of  the  arguments  adduced  may 
be  convincing  if  considered  singly;  but,  when  all  are 


20  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

taken  together,  they  assume  sufficient  weight  to  justify 
the  supposition  that  Kirkcaldy  was  at  least  as  old  as  his 
fellow-student,  Thomas  Randolph ;  that  he  was  a  young 
man  of  over  twenty  when  he  accompanied  his  King  from 
Halyards  to  Falkland;  and  that  he  was,  not  a  lad  of 
sixteen  or  seventeen,  but  a  man  approaching  his  thirtieth 
year  at  the  time  of  the  important  event  which  has  now  to 
be  chronicled  as  the  next  in  his  career,  and  in  which  he 
was  destined  to  play  important  parts  that  would  scarcely 
have  been  entrusted  to  a  '  boy.' 

It  is  possibly  owing  to  his  absence  on  the  Continent, 
for  the  prosecution  of  his  studies,  that,  after  James  V.'s 
death,  young  Kirkcaldy's  name  disappears  for  a  time  from 
the  chronicles  of  the  age.  When  mention  of  him  is  again 
made,  it  is  in  connection  with  an  event  which,  even  in 
those  troubled  days,  when  men  were  but  too  familiar 
with  deeds  of  violence,  sent  a  thrill  of  terror  through  the 
land,  and  which  still  stands  out  in  terrible  prominence 
amongst  the  most  striking  examples  of  the  lawlessness  of 
our  forefathers,  of  the  contempt  which  they  displayed  for 
human  life  in  the  furtherance  of  their  political  schemes, 
and  of  the  disregard  for  the  fundamental  precepts  of 
morality  which,  by  a  strange  inconsistency,  they  were 
able  to  reconcile  with  an  earnest  zeal  for  religion.  It  is 
as  one  of  the  assassins  of  Cardinal  Beaton  that  William 
Kirkcaldy  first  takes  an  active  part  in  the  political  and 
religious  struggle  in  which  he  was  destined  to  figure  so 
conspicuously. 

By  what  means  Beaton  had  risen  to  power,  with  what 
uncompromising  fixity  of  purpose,  and  in  what  cause  he 
wielded  it,  there  is  no  necessity  for  recalling.  Neither 
would  it  serve  any  good  purpose  to  re-open  the  con- 
troversy which  has  raged  about  his  memory.  Even  if  it 
were  possible  to  attempt  an  impartial  and  unbiased 
estimate  of  his  work  and  character  without  being  con- 
fronted at  the  outset  by  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  any 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  21 

evidence,  either  for  impeachment  or  for  defence,  but  that  of 
witnesses  whose  avowed  partisanship  at  once  marks  them 
as  untrustworthy,  there  would  be  but  little  prospect  of  a 
definitive  settlement  of  the  vexed  question  so  long  as  one 
side  endorses  the  sentiments  of  him  who  wrote  '  merrily ' 
of  the  'godly  fact'  of  his  murder,  whilst  another  holds 
him  up  to  veneration  as  a  martyr. 

In  1546,  the  Cardinal  had  attained  a  position  of  almost 
absolute  authority  in  the  kingdom;  but  he  had  also 
incurred  the  hatred  of  powerful  and  determined  men,  by 
whom  his  death  was  resolved  upon,  and  who  were  only 
waiting  for  a  favourable  opportunity  to  carry  out  their 
desperate  designs.  Foremost  amongst  them  were  the 
Kirkcaldys.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  motives  by 
which  the  other  conspirators  were  swayed,  it  seems  im- 
possible to  doubt  that  the  late  Treasurer  and  his  family 
were  actuated  by  a  desire  to  be  revenged,  rather  upon  the 
Statesman  who  had  thwarted  their  policy  than  upon  the 
Churchman  who  opposed  their  religion.  As  early  as 
1 5  44,  long  before  the  execution  of  Wishart  had  occurred 
to  lend  a  semblance  of  wild  justice  to  the  plot  against  the 
Cardinal,  it  had  been  reported  by  the  Earl  of  Hertford  to 
Henry  VIII.,  that  'the  Larde  of  Grange,  late  Thesaurer 
of  Scotland,  wolde  attempt  eyther  to  apprehend  or  slee 
him  at  some  time  when  he  sholde  goe  through  the  Fyfe- 
land,  and,  in  case  he  colde  so  apprehend  him,  wolde 
delyver  him  unto  His  Majesty.' 

Owing  to  various  circumstances,  amongst  which,  how- 
ever, cannot  be  included  any  special  precautions  taken 
by  the  intended  victim,  who,  according  to  his  enemies, 
had  reached  that  point  of  infatuated  security  which  fatally 
precedes  destruction,  the  'manie  purposes  devysed  how 
to  cutt  off'  Beaton,  all  failed  till  Friday  the  28th  of  May 
1546.  On  the  evening  of  that  day,  Norman  Lesley, 
Master  of  Rothes,  with  five  companions,  came  to  St 
Andrews,  which  William  Kirkcaldy  had  entered  before 


22  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

him.  John  Lesley,  who  was  better  known,  and  whose 
very  presence  would  have  caused  alarm,  did  not  venture 
to  join  them  until  darkness  had  set  in.  Early  on  the 
Saturday  morning,  the  conspirators  proceeded,  in  small 
parties,  to  the  abbey  churchyard,  in  close  proximity  to 
Beaton's  castle.  As  soon  as  the  gates  of  the  stronghold 
were  opened  and  the  drawbridge  let  down,  for  the  purpose 
of  admitting  workmen  with  the  materials  necessary  for 
carrying  on  the  new  works  undertaken  by  the  prelate, 
William  Kirkcaldy,  with  six  accomplices,  made  his 
appearance,  and  entered  into  conversation  with  the 
unsuspecting  porter,  inquiring  of  him  whether  the 
Cardinal  were  yet  awake,  whilst  the  others  pretended  to 
be  engrossed  in  watching  the  masons  at  their  work. 
During  the  short  dialogue  which  followed,  the  Master  of 
Rothes  and  three  other  conspirators  came  forward.  As 
it  was  important  that  no  alarm  should  yet  be  raised,  they 
passed  on  without  appearing  to  notice  Kirkcaldy  or  his 
party,  and,  with  assumed  carelessness,  took  up  their 
position  in  the  middle  of  the  courtyard.  Immediately 
after  this,  a  third  band  of  conspirators,  amongst  whom 
was  the  impetuous  Lesley,  hastily  made  for  the  gate. 
Startled  at  their  appearance — for,  more  careless  or  more 
eager  than  those  who  had  preceded  them,  they  pressed 
forward  '  somewhat  rudelie ' — and  recognizing  a  man  who 
was  known  to  have  sworn  the  death  of  the  Cardinal,  the 
porter  ran  to  the  chain,  and  endeavoured  to  raise  the 
drawbridge.  In  another  moment  he  would  have  succeeded 
in  keeping  out  the  fiercest  of  the  conspirators,  but,  as 
the  bridge  was  slowly  rising,  Lesley  cleared  the  gap  with 
one  bold  spring,  and  leaped  into  the  courtyard.  As  a 
prelude  to  the  bloody  work,  the  porter  was  felled  to  the 
ground,  the  keys  were  snatched  from  him,  and  the 
senseless  body  was  cast  into  the  moat. 

This  first  deed  of  violence  and  murder  is,  by  Froude, 
attributed  to  William  Kirkcaldy.     His  assertion,  however, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  23 

is  only  deduced  from  the  description  given  by  the 
chroniclers  of  the  respective  positions  taken  up  by  the 
conspirators,  and  not  actually  based  on  their  actual  words. 
That  Kirkcaldy,  who,  but  a  few  moments  earlier,  was  in 
conversation  with  the  porter,  had  a  better  opportunity  for 
attacking  the  man  than  any  of  the  accomplices  within  the 
gates,  scarcely  admits  of  denial.  It  may  even  be  granted 
that,  being  a  willing  party  to  the  desperate  enterprise  of 
killing  the  Cardinal,  he  would  have  felt  but  little  hesitation 
in  preventing  the  gate-keeper  from  marring  the  whole  plot. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  is  quite  as  natural  to  sup- 
pose, with  Grant,  that  Lesley,  in  his  fierce  rush,  made 
directly  for  the  warder,  and  that  it  was  by  him  that  the 
unfortunate  man's  '  heid  was  brokin '  as  he  '  maid  him  for 
defence.'  The  point,  it  may  be  thought,  is  but  a  trifling 
one.  Yet,  considering  the  bloodless  part  taken  by  Kirk- 
caldy in  the  subsequent  proceedings,  his  biographer  may 
be  allowed  to  dwell  on  it  for  a  moment,  not,  indeed,  with 
the  intention  of  showing  him  to  have  been  less  guilty, 
morally,  than  any  of  his  associates,  but  rather  for  the  pur- 
pose of  clearing  him  from  the  charge  of  having,  with  his  own 
hand,  shed  a  fellow-creature's  blood  on  that  terrible  day. 

Though  numbering  but  sixteen,  the  conspirators  were 
resolute  and  armed ;  and,  it  was  an  easy  task  for  them  to 
overawe  the  peaceful  workmen  who,  though  they  had  run 
forward  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  tumult,  manifested  no 
inclination  to  interfere  on  either  side,  but  quietly  allowed 
themselves  to  be  '  put  forth  at  the  wicket  gate.'  As  soon 
as  this  was  accomplished,  William  Kirkcaldy  made  for  the 
postern,  where  he  took  up  his  position  in  order  to  prevent 
the  '  fox '  from  escaping.  His  confederates,  in  the  mean- 
time, entered  the  Castle,  and  proceeding  to  the  apartments 
of  the  gentlemen  of  the  household,  of  whom  there  were  no 
less  than  fifty,  obliged  them,  by  threats  of  immediate  death 
if  they  offered  any  resistance,  to  depart  as  peacefully  as  the 
workmen  had  done. 


24  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

By  this  time,  the  conspirators,  feeling  themselves  secure, 
had  thrown  away  all  restraint ;  and  their  shouts  of  exulta- 
tion, as  they  ran  from  room  to  room,  awakened  the 
Cardinal  who,  as  it  was  only  'betwixt  four  and  fyve 
hours,'  was  still  in  bed  when  his  castle  was  invaded. 
Opening  his  window  to  inquire  the  cause  of  the  unwonted 
noise,  he  was  informed  that  Norman  Lesley  had  taken 
possession  of  the  place.  His  first  endeavour  was  to  seek 
safety  in  flight.  He  ran  towards  the  postern  at  which 
Kirkcaldy  was  stationed;  but  perceiving  the  way  to  be 
barred,  he  at  once  returned  to  his  apartments,  seized  his 
two-handed  sword,  and  ordered  his  page  to  barricade  the 
door  with  'kists  and  other  impediments.'  Scarcely  had 
the  furniture  been  piled  up  when  John  Lesley,  with  James 
Melville  of  Carnbee  and  Peter  Carmichael,  arrived  and 
demanded  to  be  let  in.  'Who  calls?'  asked  Beaton. — 
'  My  name  is  Lesley,'  was  the  reply. — '  Is  that  Norman  ? ' 
again  inquired  the  Cardinal. — 'Nay,'  he  was  told,  'my 
name  is  John.' — '  I  will  have  Norman,'  he  continued,  '  for 
he  is  my  friend.' — '  Content  yourself  with  such  as  are  here,' 
said  the  implacable  Lesley,  '  for  other  shall  ye  get  none.' 

There  was  a  pause,  during  which  Beaton  hastily  thrust 
a  box  of  gold  under  a  heap  of  coals  that  was  kept  in 
a  hidden  recess  of  the  room,  whilst  the  assailants  were 
fruitlessly  endeavouring  to  burst  the  massive  door. 
Resuming  the  interrupted  parley,  the  Cardinal  called 
out,  'Will  ye  save  my  life?' — It  was  John  Lesley  that 
replied:  'It  may  be  that  we  will.' — 'Nay,'  returned 
Beaton,  hesitating  to  trust  so  ambiguous  a  promise,  '  swear 
unto  me,  by  God's  wounds,  and  I  will  open  unto  you.' — 
'  Then,'  cried  Lesley,  '  that  which  was  said  is  unsaid,'  and 
he  ordered  live  coals  to  be  brought  for  the  purpose  of 
burning  down  the  wooden  barricade.  Such,  at  least,  is 
the  account  given  by  Knox ;  but  Lindsay  of  Pitscottie 
only  says  that  the  question  from  within  was,  '  Will  ye 
slay  me  ?  '  and  the  answer  from  without  an  unconditional 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  25 

'  No.'  Both  agree  that,  at  this  moment,  the  door  was 
thrown  open — a  circumstance  which  seems  to  point  to  the 
accuracy  of  the  tatter's  narrative. 

The  assassins  rushed  in,  whilst  the  doomed  Cardinal, 
sinking  into  a  chair,  exclaimed,  '  I  am  a  priest !  I  am  a 
priest !  Ye  will  not  sky  me  ! '  But  he  appealed  to  men 
who  knew  no  mercy.  'According  to  his  former  vows,' 
John  Lesley  struck  him  repeatedly  with  his  whingar,  and 
was  seconded  by  Carmichael  in  the  work  of  death.  But 
Melville,  'a  man  of  nature  most  gentle  and  most  modest' 
— such  is  Knox's  account  of  him — seeing  that  they  were 
both  under  the  influence  of  strong  passion,  thrust  them 
aside  rebukingly.  'This  work  and  judgment  of  God, 
although  it  be  secret,'  he  said,  'ought  to  be  done  with 
greater  gravity.'  Then,  drawing  his  sword,  and  turning 
the  point  of  it  towards  the  terror-stricken  Cardinal,  he 
spoke  the  stern  words:  'Repent  thee  of  thy  former  wicked 
life,  but  especially  of  the  shedding  of  the  blood  of  that 
notable  servant  of  God,  Mr  George  Wishart,  which,  albeit 
the  flame  of  fire  hath  consumed  it  before  men,  yet  crieth 
it  for  vengeance  upon  thee,  and  we  from  God  are  sent  to 
revenge  it.  For  here,  before  my  God  I  protest,  that 
neither  the  hatred  of  thy  person,  the  love  of  thy  riches, 
nor  the  fear  of  any  trouble  thou  couldst  have  wrought  to 
me  in  particular,  moved  or  moveth  me  to  strike  at  thee,  but 
only  because  thou  hast  been,  and  remainest,  an  obstinate 
enemy  against  Christ  Jesus  and  his  Holy  Gospel.'  Then, 
with  his  hunting-knife,  he  ran  the  shrinking  victim  again 
and  again  through  the  body.  Mangled  and  bathed  in  his 
life-blood,  the  Cardinal  sank  from  his  chair  to  the  floor, 
his  dying  lips  repeating  the  protest  which  had  only  excited 
his  murderers  to  greater  ferocity :  '  I  am  a  priest !  I  am  a 
priest !  Fie,  fie  !  All  is  gone  ! ' 


///.     THE  CONSPIRATORS  AT  BAY 

THE  men  who  had  so  deliberately  planned  and  so  boldly 
perpetrated  the  murder  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  were  fully 
conscious  of  the  gravity  of  the  situation  in  which  they 
now  found  themselves.  They  knew  that  the  crime  which 
they  had  committed  in  slaying  the  Chancellor  of  the  Realm 
bore  with  it  the  guilt  of  high  treason,  and  that,  if  they 
refused  to  give  themselves  up,  they  would  be  declared 
rebels,  and  dealt  with  as  such.  But  they  had  gone  too 
far  to  retreat.  If  safety  were  to  be  secured,  it  could  only 
be  by  union  amongst  themselves  ;  and  instead  of  separat- 
ing, to  wander  as  outlaws  through  the  country  or  to  shut 
themselves  up  singly  in  their  fortalices,  they  determined 
to  maintain  themselves  in  the  stronghold  which  they  had 
captured.  Its  very  position  seemed  to  suggest  and  to 
justify  such  a  course.  Situated  on  a  rock-bound  headland 
a  little  to  the  north  of  the  city  of  St  Andrews,  the  imposing 
castle  which  Bishop  Roger,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester, 
'founded  and  gart  bigged  be,'  in  the  year  1200,  was 
guarded  on  two  sides  by  the  sea,  and,  whilst  practically 
inaccessible  to  a  hostile  fleet,  might,  with  comparative  ease, 
keep  up  communication  with  a  friendly  force,  and  receive 
supplies  from  it.  A  deep  moat  and  strongly  fortified  walls 
protected  it  from  the  attack  of  a  land  army,  and  had  more 
than  once  before  enabled  it  to  hold  out  against  superior 
numbers.  Food  and  ammunition  had  been  abundantly 
provided  by  Beaton  himself,  as  a  precaution  against  a 
possible  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  English ;  and,  within 
the  walls  which  had  been  known  to  give  accommodation 
to  guests  whose  mounted  attendants  alone  numbered  four 
26 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  27 

hundred  and  twenty,  there  was  ample  room  for  quartering 
the  partisans  by  whom  they  expected  to  be  joined. 

To  the  advantages  which  the  natural  position  and 
elaborate  defences  of  the  fortress  afforded,  chance  added 
another,  which,  though  of  a  very  different  kind,  might  be 
depended  upon  to  operate  strongly  in  favour  of  the  con- 
spirators, and  which  may,  very  probably,  have  exercised 
a  not  unappreciable  influence  upon  their  decision.  It 
happened  that,  at  the  time  when  Cardinal  Beaton's  castle 
was  seized  upon,  James  Hamilton,  the  Earl  of  Arran's 
eldest  son,  was  residing  with  him.  Instead  of  being  sent 
away,  as  were  the  other  gentlemen  of  the  household,  he 
was  retained  by  the  captors  as  a  hostage.  It  was  thought 
that  consideration  for  his  son's  safety  would  hamper  the 
Regent's  action ;  and  not  only  prevent  him  from  having 
recourse  to  measures  of  extreme  severity  in  the  course  of 
the  unavoidable  siege,  but  also  affect  the  conditions  to  be 
granted,  if  the  garrison  were  eventually  forced  to  surrender. 

Nor  was  that  all.  A  scheme  of  Arran's  own,  for  the 
marriage  of  his  heir  with  the  young  Queen  of  Scots,  was 
thought  to  be  at  the  bottom  of  his  opposition  to  the 
alliance  by  which  the  King  of  England  hoped  to  unite 
the  two  Crowns.  In  the  eyes  of  Henry,  James  Hamilton 
was  a  rival  to  his  own  son  Edward ;  and  they  who  had  it 
in  their  power  to  hand  over  the  youth  to  his  safe  keeping, 
possessed  a  further  claim  upon  the  protection  and  assist- 
ance which  his  share  in  the  plot  for  Beaton's  destruction 
led  them  to  expect  from  him.  Under  the  special  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  there  was,  therefore,  as  much  wisdom 
as  daring  in  what  might,  at  first  sight,  appear  the  desperate 
determination  of  holding  the  Castle. 

The  first  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  the  sixteen,  was  one 
who  had  not,  it  is  true,  figured  so  prominently  and 
actively  as  they  in  the  slaughter  of  the  Cardinal,  but  who 
was  too  much  implicated  in  their  action,  and  could  too 
easily  be  proved  to  be  in  actual  fact  their  accomplice,  to 


28  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

expect  anything  but  the  severest  treatment  at  the  hands 
of  the  avengers.  Before  the  day  was  out,  Sir  James 
Kirkcaldy,  with  his  sons  and  brothers,  arrived  in  St 
Andrews,  and  was  admitted  into  the  Castle.  Some  more 
of  the  Melvilles  followed  soon  after;  and  by  gradual 
accessions  to  its  strength,  as  the  news  of  what  had  been 
done  at  St  Andrews  spread  through  the  country,  the  rebel 
garrison  increased  to  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  fighting 
men.  The  names  of  those  connected  with  the  murder 
either  as  '  first  interprisers,'  or  as  '  part  takers,  maintainers, 
defenders,  victuallers,  assisters,  and  counsel  givers,'  num- 
bered thirty-five.  They  were  set  forth  in  the  proclama- 
tion, issued  thirteen  days  after  the  death  of  Beaton,  which 
was  publicly  read,  at  the  Market  Cross  of  Cupar,  by  John 
Paterson,  Carrick  Pursuivant,  and  which  summoned  the 
persons  mentioned  in  it  to  appear  within  six  days  at  the 
bar  of  Parliament,  under  pain  of  being  declared  rebels. 
Amongst  them  were  eight  Kirkcaldys  and  four  Melvilles. 
That  the  majority  of  those  who  had  taken  refuge  at  St 
Andrews,  because  they  '  suspected  themselves  to  be  borne 
at  evil  will,'  were  not  mistaken  as  to  the  sentiments 
entertained  towards  them  by  the  party  of  which  the 
Cardinal  had  been  the  head,  was  proved  by  'letters  and 
memorials '  which  were  discovered  amongst  Beaton's 
papers,  and  which  disclosed  a  project,  formed  by  him, 
and  sanctioned  by  the  Council,  for  their  treacherous 
and  summary  removal,  by  death  or  imprisonment,  on 
the  Monday  following. 

Amongst  others,  whom  sympathy  with  its  garrison  drew 
to  St  Andrews,  mention  is  made  by  the  chroniclers  of 
John  Knox  and  his  three  pupils — George  and  Francis 
Douglas,  and  Alexander  Cockburn — of  John  Rough,  a 
Reformed  Preacher,  whom  Bonner  subsequently  sent  to 
the  stake,  as  a  heretic;  of  Henry  Balneaves  of  Halhill, 
who  had  occupied  the  position  of  Clerk-Treasurer  under 
Sir  James  Kirkcaldy;  and  of  Sir  David  Lindsay,  who 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  29 

found  the  subject  of  a  poem  in  the  tragedy  that  had 
been  enacted  in  the  Castle,  and  gave  expression  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  less  fanatical  section  of  his  party  in  the 
well-known  lines : — 

'  As  for  the  Cardinal,  I  grant 
He  was  the  man  we  well  might  want ; 

God  will  forgive  it  soon. 
But  of  a  truth,  the  sooth  to  say, 
Although  the  loon  be  well  away, 

The  deed  was  foully  done.' 

The  measures  taken  by  the  Regent  with  a  view  to  the 
punishment  of  the  rebels  did  not  bear  evidence  of  much 
zeal  or  energy  on  his  part.  Nearly  three  months  had 
elapsed  since  the  murder  of  Beaton  when,  on  the  2 1  st  of 
August,  a  proclamation  was  issued,  calling  upon  the 
vassals  of  the  Crown  to  assemble  within  a  week  for  the 
purpose  of  forcing  the  garrison  of  St  Andrews  into  sub- 
mission. But,  even  that  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
followed  by  any  very  strenuous  exertions.  A  body  of 
troops  was,  it  is  true,  sent  against  the  rebels ;  but  the 
military  operations  must  have  been  conducted  in  a  very 
inadequate  manner,  for,  at  Martinmas,  according  to 
Pitscottie,  '  all  men  cryed  out  and  desired  the  Governour 
to  punisch  sick  injuries  done  within  the  realme ;  and  also 
the  Queine  perswadit  the  Governour  to  put  remeid  heirto.' 

It  was  mainly  by  the  Catholic  clergy  that  pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  Arran.  By  voluntarily  undertaking 
to  contribute  ^2000  monthly  towards  the  support  of  the 
royal  troops,  as  long  as  the  siege  of  the  Castle  should  last, 
the  prelates  gave  practical  proof  of  their  determination 
not  to  allow  the  assassins  of  their  religious  and  political 
leader,  the  Cardinal,  to  escape  with  impunity.  Then, 
at  length,  '  an  army '  marched  into  Fifeshire,  to  invest  the 
stronghold  in  real  earnest ;  and  '  tua  gritt  cannones,  to  wit 
Cruik  Mow  and  the  Deafe  Meg,'  were  brought  to  bear 


30  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

upon  it.  The  massive  defences,  it  is  true,  suffered  but 
slight  injury  from  the  lead-cased  stone  shot  which  the 
primitive  artillery  of  the  time  discharged  against  them; 
but  the  mere  fact  of  its  being  cut  off  from  all  communi- 
cation on  the  land-side  gradually  began  to  tell  on  the 
garrison ;  and  the  leaders  found  themselves  obliged  to 
make  urgent  appeal  for  assistance  to  their  friend  and 
protector,  Henry  VIII.  As  early  as  the  beginning  of 
September,  in  consequence  of  the  proclamation  which  the 
Regent  had  issued  shortly  before,  and  which  indicated 
the  commencement  of  hostilities,  they  had  sent  letters  to 
the  English  Council;  and  on  the  seventeenth  of  that 
month  the  King  was  advised  to  send  '  at  least  some  small 
force,  which  should  not  onely  appeare  a  comfort  to  them, 
but  be  a  defence  against  the  Scottis  on  the  sees.'  The 
immediate  effect  of  this  recommendation  was  the  dispatch 
of  eight  ships,  with  the  'Maister  of  Wark  of  Ingland,' 
whose  object,  according  to  the  Diurnal  of  Occurrents,  was 
'to  spy'  the  Castle.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  this 
first  squadron  brought  any  material  assistance  to  the 
besieged ;  for,  when  it  returned,  about  the  end  of  October, 
'William  Kirkcaldy  of  Grange,  younger,  past  to  Ingland, 
for  supplie,'  with  it,  accompanied  by  Henry  Balnea ves 
of  Halhill  and  John  Lesley. 

On  their  arrival  in  London,  the  envoys  lost  no  time  in 
informing  Henry  of  the  object  of  their  mission.  Nor 
does  the  King,  on  his  side,  appear  to  have  acted  less 
expeditiously.  Before  the  end  of  the  month,  he  wrote  to 
Admiral  Tyrrell,  informing  him  that  he  had  '  been  moved 
to  send  forth  presently  to  the  sees  the  number  of  six  ships 
furnished  for  the  wars,  that  is  to  say,  the  Pauncey,  the 
Mynyon,  the  Hart,  \h&  Jennet,  the  Dragon,  and  the  LyonJ 
and  had  appointed  him  to  the  command.  According  to 
further  instructions,  Tyrrell,  on  reaching  the  Firth,  was  to 
land  parties  at  unprotected  points  on  either  shore,  'to 
spoil  and  burn  small  villages  and  houses,'  and  thus,  not 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  31 

only  strike  terror  into  the  population,  but  also  create  a 
diversion  in  favour  of  the  Castle,  from  the  siege  of  which 
forces  would  probably  be  withdrawn,  and  sent  to  check 
the  progress  of  the  English  raiders.  The  Master  of 
Rothes  and  the  Laird  of  Grange  were  to  be  told  that  his 
Majesty  was  '  sorry  to  understand  their  care  and  trouble 
for  their  defence,'  and  that  'conforme  to  the  request  of 
Mr  Kirkcaldy  to  helpe  them  with  some  vitail  and 
munition,'  one  of  the  six  ships  was  laden  with  supplies, 
which  were  to  be  handed  over  in  such  quantity  as  the 
Admiral  might  judge  necessary. 

Another  paragraph  in  the  same  letter  explains  one  of 
the  reasons  of  the  King's  liberality,  and  shows  on  what 
condition  Kirkcaldy  had  been  able  to  secure  help  from 
England.  { And,  because  the  sayd  Mr  Kirkcaldy,  who  is 
sone  and  heire  to  the  Lard  of  Grange  aforesaid,  at  his 
late  beeing  with  us,  signifyed  by  his  letters,  on  the  behalf 
of  the  Master  of  Rothes  and  his  father,  that  for  a  token 
of  their  service  and  goode  wille  to  us,  they  wold  delyver 
in  hostage  the  sonne  of  the  Erie  of  Arran,  ye  shal  cause 
request  to  be  made,  in  our  name,  for  him,  setting  forth 
that  besides  the  performance  therby  of  the  promesse  of 
the  sayd  Kirkcaldy,  and  the  confirmation  of  our  credit 
and  estimation  of  them,  they  shal  doo  a  thing  so  much  to 
our  contentation,  as  shal  give  us  occasion  the  nerer  to 
stykk  unto  them,  and  temploye  our  force  to  the  repulse 
of  their  enemyes  the  more  willingly.' 

Whilst  Henry  Balneaves  and  John  Lesley  remained  in 
England  'for  forming  and  perfyting  all  contracts  betwixt 
the  defenders  and  King  Henrie,'  Kirkcaldy  returned  to 
St  Andrews.  The  besieged  had  not  yet  been  able  to 
make  that  'plaine  passage  by  an  yron  gate,  through  the 
east  wall  to  the  sea,  which  greetly  releeved  them'  at  a 
later  stage  of  the  blockade ;  and,  when  the  English  ships 
arrived,  there  was  consequently  some  difficulty  in  effecting 
communication  with  them.  Ultimately,  however,  Kirk- 


32  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

caldy  succeeded  in  landing  with  the  supplies ;  but  it  was 
'  not  without  some  losse  of  men.' 

On  the  side  of  the  besiegers,  Kirkcaldy's  departure 
which,  according  to  the  Diurnal  of  Occurrents,  took  place 
on  the  26th  of  October,  had  filliped  the  leaders  into  a 
display  of  energy.  On  the  Tuesday  following  it,  the 
Governor  and  the  Lords  with  him,  anxious  to  put  an  end 
to  the  siege  before  the  arrival  of  supplies  from  England, 
sent  to  offer  the  rebels  the  restitution  of  their  lands, 
heritages,  tacks,  benefices  and  moveables,  on  condition 
that  they  should  surrender  the  Castle  and  give  up  young 
Hamilton.  The  proposal  was  met  with  a  curt  refusal. 
Three  days  later  preparation  was  made  for  a  vigorous 
attack ;  and  four  cannons,  a  battering  culverin,  two  smaller 
culverins,  and  some  double  falcons  were  sent  to  the  west 
trenches  for  the  purpose  of  battering  the  sea-tower  that 
stood  at  the  north-west,  and  also  the  west  wall.  Then, 
when  all  this  artillery  had  been  brought  into  position, 
the  cannonade  began  from  two  sides  at  once.  On  the 
first  day  it  lasted  without  cessation  from  seven  in  the 
morning  till  four  in  the  afternoon.  The  fire  was  un- 
usually effective.  That  from  the  new  battery  brought 
down  all  the  battlements  and  the  top-storey  of  the  sea- 
tower,  and  the  whole  roof  of  the  apartments  overlooking 
the  shore.  On  the  land-side  the  feathered  bolts  shot  from 
the  balistae  at  the  hall  and  chapel,  broke  in  the  roof, 
and  drove  those  of  the  garrison  who  were  stationed  at 
that  point  to  the  safer  shelter  of  the  inner  walls.  Nor 
were  the  besieged  inactive.  Pointing  their  own  cannon 
at  the  attacking  artillery  they  retaliated  by  killing  'John 
Borthwick,  principal  gunner,  and  sundry  of  the  soldiers 
and  men  of  war,'  and  by  wounding  the  Earl  of  Argyle's 
master-gunner  so  seriously  that  he  was  reported  to  be  still 
bedfast  nearly  two  months  later.  On  the  morrow  the 
Governor's  artillery  again  opened  its  fire,  and  kept  it  up 
as  vigorously,  though  not  more  murderously,  than  the  day 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  33 

before.  Further  damage  was  done  to  the  high  parts  and 
roof,  but  the  garrison  once  more  escaped  serious  injury. 
The  assailants  were  less  fortunate,  for  they  again  lost  a 
gunner,  James  Law,  and  three  other  men  with  him.  Such 
'  great  slaughter  made  upon  their  gunners '  disheartened 
the  leaders  of  the  royal  troops ;  and  tacitly  recognising 
their  inability  to  take  the  Castle  by  open  force,  '  they  gave 
up  further  shooting  with  great  artillery,  and  continued  the 
siege  with  blockading  and  small  fire  arms.' 

The  provisions  which  Kirkcaldy  had  obtained  and 
brought  from  England  afforded  but  brief  relief  to  the 
beleaguered  garrison.  From  the  22nd  of  November  to 
the  i  oth  of  December  there  was  no  flesh-meat  within  the 
Castle ;  and  the  other  supplies  gradually  dwindled  down 
to  ten  boles  of  meal  and  five  puncheons  of  wine.  But 
the  desperate  defenders  showed  no  sign  of  wavering. 
As  a  result  of  their  great  watching  and  waking,  of  the 
want  of  flesh,  and  of  the  bad  quality  of  the  fish  which 
had  become  their  chief  diet,  Walter  Melville — one  of  the 
leaders — and  twenty  men  were  stricken  with  a  deadly 
sickness;  but  this  only  moved  their  comrades  to  use 
greater  exertions  and,  in  the  words  of  one  of  them,  daily 
to  make  slaughter  of  their  enemies.  Nor  were  their 
efforts  limited  to  that.  Whilst  some  were  fighting  others 
were  working  at  the  construction  of  a  postern  door, 
and  of  a  trench  leading  from  it  to  a  rock  lying  off 
the  kitchen  tower.  When  this  was  at  length  completed 
two  men  were  able  to  set  out  nightly  in  a  small  boat, 
and,  landing  at  Tentsmuir,  to  obtain  a  scant  supply  of 
flesh  and  flour  from  a  secret  friend,  the  Laird  of  Mont- 
quhanny. 

About  the  middle  of  December  the  besieged  were 
reduced  to  such  extremities  that  a  well-conducted  and 
vigorous  attack  could  scarcely  have  failed  to  give  Arran 
possession  of  the  Castle.  Fortunately  for  them,  however, 
he  was  not  fully  aware  of  their  desperate  condition,  whilst, 


34  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

on  the  other  hand,  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
himself  placed  made  him  long  for  the  termination  of 
the  protracted  siege.  A  violent  pestilence  that  broke  out 
in  St  Andrews  and  threatened  to  spread  through  the 
beleaguering  army,  gave  him  a  plausible  excuse  for  open- 
ing negotiations  without  appearing  to  be  driven  to  it 
either  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  rebels  or  by  the  repeated 
protests  addressed  to  him  and  his  Council  by  Henry 
VIII.  on  their  behalf. 

On  the  lyth  of  December,  Lyon  Herald  approached 
the  walls  and  sounded  a  parley.  That  no  undue  haste 
on  their  part  should  reveal  how  anxious  they  themselves 
were  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  the  leaders  did  not 
condescend  to  notice  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return 
to  the  Governor  and  the  Council  with  the  report  that  he 
could  not  obtain  speech  of  them.  Later  on  in  the  day  a 
second  attempt  was  more  successful ;  and  consent  was 
obtained  to  an  interview  between  the  rebel  leaders  and 
two  envoys  from  the  camp — the  Justice-Clerk  and  the 
Provost  of  Aberdeen.  The  assumed  indifference  of  those 
within  the  Castle  caused  the  negotiations  to  drag  on 
slowly  through  several  days ;  and,  at  the  very  last 
moment,  the  demand  that  William  Kirkcaldy  should  be 
handed  over  as  a  hostage,  was  on  the  point  of  making 
them  fall  through  altogether.  Finally,  however,  on  the 
22nd  of  December,  a  truce  was  agreed  upon.  The 
conditions  were  that  the  garrison  should  retain  the 
Castle  until  the  Regent  obtained  from  the  Pope  absolu- 
tion for  all  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  murder  of 
Cardinal  Beaton ;  that  they,  their  friends,  families,  ser- 
vants, and  others  pertaining  to  them,  should  never  be 
pursued  by  law,  but  should  enjoy  all  the  privileges, 
spiritual  and  temporal,  of  which  they  had  been  in  posses- 
sion before  the  murder,  '  even  as  if  it  had  never  beene 
committed ; '  and  that,  whilst  James  Hamilton  was  still 
kept  as  a  hostage  on  the  one  side,  David  and  James 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  35 

Kirkcaldy  should  be  delivered  to  the  Regent  on  the  other, 
as  pledges  to  insure  the  surrender  of  the  Castle  when  the 
papal  absolution  arrived. 

As  soon  as  the  royal  army  had  been  withdrawn,  those 
who  had  held  the  Castle  so  valiantly  came  forth  in  great 
exultation.  The  lawless  conduct  of  some  of  them  was 
wholly  unworthy  of  the  brave  men  they  had  shown  them- 
selves to  be.  '  They  became  so  proud,'  says  Pitscottie, 
'that  no  man  might  live  besyd  thame,  for  they  would 
isch  out  and  ryd  throche  the  countrie  quhen  they  pleased, 
and  sumtymes  raise  fyre  and  burne,  and  vtherwhylles 
ravisch  vomen,  and  vse  thair  bodie  as  they  pleased.  And 
some  godlie  men  in  the  castell,  that  thought  not  thair 
lyffe  nor  conversatioun  honest,  reproved  them  sharplie, 
thairfoir,  saying,  if  they  left  not  aff,  it  could  not  be  bot 
God  would  punisch  thame  for  the  same  quhen  they 
luiket  least  for  it.  Notwithstanding  of  thir  admonitiounes, 
they  continwed  still  in  thair  former  doeingis  the  space  of 
thrie  quarteris  of  ane  yeir  thaireftir.' 

As  might  almost  be  inferred  from  the  conditions  of  the 
armistice,  neither  besiegers  nor  besieged  really  looked 
upon  it  as  a  decisive  step  towards  the  termination  of  the 
struggle.  The  object  on  either  side  was  merely  to  gain 
time  and  to  make  preparation  for  greater  efforts.  Scarcely 
was  the  truce  signed  when  the  rebel  leaders  wrote  to  their 
agent,  Balneaves,  instructing  him  'to  solicit  the  King's 
Majesty  to  write  to  the  Emperor,  to  write  to  the  Pope  for 
the  stopping  and  hindering'  of  their  absolution.  He 
was  further  to  impress  on  Henry  the  absolute  need  in 
which  they  stood  of  '  support  and  aid  of  money.'  This 
money  was  to  be  sent  by  sea ;  and  the  greatest  precautions 
were  to  be  taken  to  avoid  exciting  suspicion.  A  ship  was 
to  come  to  St  Andrews  and  to  put  out  a  boat,  for  the 
ostensible  purpose  of  opening  negotiations  with  the  Castle, 
but,  in  reality,  to  hand  over  the  money.  After  its  de- 
parture the  Governor  was  to  be  informed  that  its  object 


36  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

had  been  to  offer  victuals,  but  that  they  had  been 
refused.  Nor  was  that  all.  The  subsidy  was  not  to 
be  in  English  currency,  of  which  a  sudden  influx  would 
necessarily  be  noticed,  but  was  to  consist  of  the  coins  of 
France  and  other  countries.  This  money,  which  would 
be  accounted  for  as  proceeding  from  the  Cardinal's 
coffers,  was  to  be  used  partly  for  the  revictualing  of  the 
Castle,  and  partly  for  distribution  amongst  friends,  so  that 
they  might  be  ready,  when  his  Majesty's  force  came,  to  do 
such  things  as  his  Majesty  might  command  them.  In 
answer  to  this  appeal  Henry  sent  at  least  two  remittances 
of  money — one  of  ^1180,  and  another  of  ^"1300.  This 
was  for  pay  to  the  garrison,  which  consisted  of  eighty  foot 
and  forty  horse,  and  of  which  each  man  received  eight 
pence  a  day.  The  Council  Books  show  that  further 
sums  were  transmitted  for  the  leading  men;  that  Norman 
Lesley's  share  was  ^280;  and  that  Sir  James  Kirkcaldy 
got  £200  as  his. 

Whilst  Balneaves  was  soliciting  help  from  England, 
Panter,  on  behalf  of  the  Regent,  was  appealing  to  France. 
On  the  strength  of  the  old  alliance  between  the  two 
countries,  Francis  was  requested  to  send  supplies,  not 
only  of  money,  but  also  of  arms,  and  to  place  some  of 
his  own  experienced  military  leaders  at  the  disposal  of 
Scotland. 

About  the  middle  of  June  1547,  the  papal  bull  upon 
which  so  much  had  been  made  to  depend,  reached 
Scotland,  and  was  communicated  to  the  rebel  leaders, 
together  with  a  summons  that  they  should  surrender  the 
Castle,  in  accordance  with  the  promise  given  by  them 
the  previous  December.  On  making  themselves  acquainted 
with  the  document,  they  found  it  contained  a  remarkable 
clause,  in  which  Paul  III.  professed  to  remit  the  crime 
that  could  not  be  remitted,  '  Remittimus  irremissibile?  It 
was,  in  all  probability,  nothing  more  than  a  theological 
conceit,  in  the  Italian  taste.  But  those  whom  it  most 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  37 

nearly  concerned  read  it  otherwise.  It  was  not,  they 
declared,  the  sure  and  sufficient  absolution  which  the 
Governor  and  his  Council  had  undertaken  to  procure  for 
them,  but  merely  a  trap  set  for  their  destruction.  They 
consequently  refused  to  give  up  the  Castle,  alleging  that 
the  condition  upon  which  they  had  agreed  to  do  so  had 
not  been  fulfilled. 

When  the  little  garrison  thus  resolved  once  more  to  defy 
the  Regent's  power,  the  armament  upon  which  he  depended 
to  force  them  into  subjection,  was  ready  to  set  sail,  if  it 
had  not  already  left  the  French  port.  On  the  zgth  of 
June,  a  fleet  consisting,  according  to  some  chroniclers  of 
twenty-one  galleys,  according  to  others,  of  six  galleys  and 
two  great  ships,  appeared  in  sight  of  St  Andrews.  Leo 
Strozzi,  who  was  in  command,  at  once  disposed  his  vessels 
in  such  fashion  that  their  artillery  should  command  all 
the  outworks  of  the  Castle,  and  early  next  day  sent  another 
summons  to  the  garrison  to  surrender.  The  bold  defenders 
replied  that  he  had  no  lawful  authority  over  them,  and 
that  they  consequently  declined  to  obey  his  orders.  That 
was  the  signal  for  the  commencement  of  active  operations 
on  the  part  of  the  French  squadron.  Two  days'  firing, 
however,  produced  no  further  effect  on  the  fortress  than 
the  demolition  of  portions  of  the  roof;  whilst  the  defenders 
inflicted  serious  injuries  on  the  assailants,  and  besides 
killing  several  rowers  and  soldiers,  completely  crippled  one 
galley. 

Strozzi,  by  this  time,  had  recognized  the  futility  of  con- 
tinuing the  siege  from  the  sea  alone,  and  at  once  began 
to  make  preparation  to  attack  it  from  the  land  side 
as  well.  The  measures  which  he  took  showed  that  he 
meant  more  serious  work,  and  that  he  understood  his 
business  better  than  the  Scottish  engineers  who  had  con- 
ducted operations  the  summer  before.  Indeed,  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  express  his  contempt  for  them  as  '  unexpert 
men  of  war,'  to  whom  it  had  not  occurred  to  mount 


38  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

batteries  on  the  steeples  and  all  the  high  places  that 
overlooked  the  Castle.  Nor  did  he  think  much  better 
of  the  besieged  for  not  bringing  down  the  steeples  to 
prevent  such  advantage  being  taken  of  them. 

In  getting  his  own  batteries  into  position,  Strozzi's  in- 
genuity was  put  to  the  test.  His  guns  had  to  be  taken 
through  streets  completely  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the 
enemy;  and  if  men  were  employed  to  transport  them,  there 
would  necessarily  be  very  heavy  losses  amongst  them.  To 
avoid  this,  he  set  up  powerful  windlasses  at  the  extremity 
of  each  street,  and  by  their  means  was  able  to  draw  his 
cumbrous  guns  along  without  sacrificing  the  life  of  a  single 
soldier.  When  this  was  noticed  from  the  Castle  by  the 
Italian  engineer,  who  had  been  sent  from  England  to  assist 
the  garrison,  he  was  not  slow  in  realising  the  danger  of  the 
situation.  '  Defend  yourselves,  Masters,'  he  exclaimed,  '  for 
now  you  have  to  deal  with  men  of  war  who  are  very 
skilful  and  subtle,  for  they  work  their  cannons  without 
any  men  near  them.'  But  the  confederates  had  dared  too 
much  to  be  intimidated  by  this  new  device,  and  they 
answered  resolutely  that  they  should  hold  the  Castle  to 
the  last  against  the  united  forces  of  Scotland  and  France. 

The  laborious  task  of  raising  heavy  guns  on  to  the  tower 
of  the  Abbey  Church  and  the  steeple  of  Saint  Salvator's 
College  must  have  taken  a  considerable  time,  for  the  24th 
of  July  is  given  as  the  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  siege 
from  the  land  side.  It  had  now  become  evident  that  the 
end  could  not  be  far  off.  From  their  high  position  the 
besiegers  commanded  even  the  courtyard  of  the  Castle; 
and  it  was  only  with  the  greatest  danger  that  the  besieged 
could  make  their  way  from  one  point  to  another.  The  per- 
sistent cannonade  drove  them  first  from  the  block-house, 
then  from  the  sea-tower,  and  finally  effected  a  breach  in 
the  wall,  of  which  a  large  portion  came  crushing  down, 
with  a  mighty  noise.  A  tremendous  storm  that  broke 
out  checked  the  progress  of  the  assailants  for  a  few  hours, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  39 

and  probably  saved  the  garrison  from  the  slaughter 
which  must  inevitably  have  taken  place  if  the  breach 
had  been  stormed  and  the  Castle  captured  by  force. 
Even  at  this  last  extremity,  there  were  some  within 
the  walls  who  counselled  a  last  effort,  and  urged  that 
the  whole  available  force  should  join  in  a  sortie.  But 
the  desperate  proposal  though  discussed  was  not  adopted; 
and  when  the  storm  abated  and  preparation  was  again 
being  made  for  a  final  assault,  a  flag  of  truce  announced 
that,  for  the  first  time,  the  rebel  leaders  demanded  a 
parley  with  a  view  to  the  surrender  of  the  fortress.  But, 
not  even  yet  was  their  spirit  so  utterly  crushed  that 
they  were  ready  to  consent  without  demur  to  any  terms. 
Neither  with  the  Governor  nor  with  any  of  their  own 
countrymen  would  they  condescend  to  negotiate,  for 
these  had  deserted  them,  'Which,  I  am  assured,'  said 
the  Laird  of  Grange,  '  God  shall  revenge  ere  it  be 
long.'  It  was  to  Strozzi  himself  that  they  surrendered. 
According  to  Knox  the  terms  of  the  capitulation  were : 
That  the  lives  of  all  that  were  within  the  Castle,  as  well 
of  the  English  as  of  the  Scots,  should  be  saved ;  that  they 
should  be  safely  transported  to  France ;  that,  at  the  King 
of  France's  expense  they  should  be  safely  conveyed  to 
any  country  they  might  desire,  other  than  Scotland,  in 
case  that,  upon  conditions  which  should  be  offered  by  the 
King  of  France  unto  them,  they  could  not  be  content  to 
remain  in  service  and  freedom  there. 

Thus,  on  the  3oth  of  July,  1547,  ended  the  siege  of 
the  famous  Castle.  Entering  it  at  once,  the  French 
'spoylled  verrie  rigorouslie.'  According  to  Pitscottie, 
'they  gott  both  gold,  silver,  cloathing,  bedding,  meitt 
and  drink,  with  all  veapones,  artaillie,  and  victuallis,  and 
all  vther  plenisching,  and  left  nothing  behind  thame  that 
they  might  gett  carried  away  in  thair  gallies.'  The 
'  Diurnal  of  Occurrents '  estimates  the  value  of  the  spoil 
at  one  hundred  thousand  pounds.  By  command  of  the 


40  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Governor  and  Council,  the  Castle  itself  was  razed  to  the 
ground.  'Whether  this  was  to  fulfil  their  law,  which 
commandeth  places  where  cardinals  are  slain  so  to  be 
used,  or  for  fear  that  England  should  have  taken  it,  as 
they  did  Broughty  rock,  we  are  uncertain,'  says  Calder- 
wood,  who  reports  the  fact. 


IV.     IN  FRANCE 

To  Arran  and  his  Council,  the  terms  obtained  from 
Strozzi  by  the  rebel  garrison  seemed  to  be  far  too  lenient ; 
and  they  accordingly  sent  John  Hamilton  of  Milburne  to 
the  King  of  France,  who  was  now  Henry  II.,  and  to  the 
powerful  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  urging  them  to  repudiate 
the  Captain-General's  action,  and,  in  spite  of  the  promises 
by  which  they  had  finally  been  induced  to  surrender,  to 
handle  the  prisoners  sharply. 

Owing  to  circumstances  which  the  chroniclers  do  not 
explain,  the  journey  to  France  appears  to  have  been 
unusually  protracted  ;  for,  although  Strozzi  is  said  to  have 
sailed  from  St  Andrews  about  the  middle  of  August,  it 
was  not  till  November  that  the  galleys  are  reported  to 
have  reached  Rouen.  On  his  arrival,  the  six  score 
Scotsmen  whom  he  brought  with  him,  learned  that  they 
were  not  to  be  given  the  option  of  entering  into  the 
service  of  France,  or  of  passing,  at  the  King's  expense, 
into  any  other  country  they  might  choose ;  and  that  the 
murder  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  and  the  subsequent  rebellious 
defiance  of  the  royal  authority  were  not  to  be  allowed  to 
go  unpunished.  John  Knox  and  Balfour,  together  with 
the  prisoners  of  lower  degree,  were  kept  on  the  galleys  as 
slaves,  and  sent  to  work  on  the  Loire.  Their  fate  was 
commemorated  in  the  doggerel  couplet  given  by  Calder- 
wood  as  the  '  song  of  triumph '  of  the  Papists  : — 

'  Prcests,  content  you  now ;  preests,  content  you  now, 
For  Norman  and  his  com  panic  hath  filled  the  galeyes  fow.' 

Jn  reality,  however,  Norman  Lesley,  with  the  Laird  of  Pit- 


42  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

millie,  and  the  Laird  of  Grange  for  his  companions,  was 
conveyed  to  Cherbourg.  Henry  Balneaves  was  imprisoned 
in  Rouen  itself,  where  he  spent  his  enforced  leisure  in 
writing  a  '  comfortable  treatise '  on  Justification  by  Faith 
without  Works.  James  Melville  was  relegated  to  the 
Castle  of  Brest,  but  very  shortly  after  'departed  from 
the  miseries  of  this  life.' 

To  William  Kirkcaldy,  Peter  Carmichael,  Robert  and 
William  Lesley,  what  was  then  one  of  the  most  formidable 
fortresses  in  the  kingdom,  was  assigned  as  a  place  of  con- 
finement. 

Built  on  a  huge  rock  of  granite,  in  the  blue,  savage 
Norman  Bay,  there  stood  the  imposing  structure  upon 
which  the  admiration  of  the  Middle-Ages  bestowed  the 
name  of  the  Wonder  of  the  West.  Situated  some  four 
miles  from  the  nearest  point  of  the  mainland,  it  was 
guarded  by  the  sea  at  high  water,  but  became  more 
inaccessible  still  when,  for  a  couple  of  hours  each  day, 
the  ebbing  tide  left  nothing  but  a  wide  expanse  of 
treacherous  quicksands  between  it  and  the  coast.  This 
was  the  abbey -fortress  of  Mont  Saint- Michel,  that 
'  wonderfully  strong  place  upon  the  sea-shore,'  which 
had  proved  the  bulwark  of  Normandy  during  the  long 
struggle  between  England  and  France,  and  in  which 
insignificant  garrisons  of  determined  men  had,  time  and 
again,  successfully  held  out  against  the  assaults  of  be- 
leaguering thousands.  Here  it  was  that  the  four  Scottish 
prisoners  were  destined  to  spend  many  months  of  captivity. 
But  the  very  fastness  of  their  isolated  prison  was  not 
without  advantage  for  them.  It  inspired  the  Governor 
with  such  confidence  that  he  deemed  it  unnecessary  to 
deprive  them  of  the  restricted  liberty  that  the  rock 
afforded.  The  only  annoyance  to  which  they  were 
submitted,  was  one  which  affected  them  through  their 
religious  opinions,  and  which  they  shared  in  common 
with  the  Scottish  prisoners  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  43 

Knox  relates  that  those  who  were  in  the  galleys  were 
threatened  with  torments  if  they  would  not  give  reverence 
to  the  Mass,  and  that  they  would  have  been  compelled 
to  kiss  a  statue  of  the  Virgin,  if  one  of  them  had  not 
seized  it  and  cast  it  into  the  Loire.  At  Cherbourg,  too, 
the  governor  of  the  castle  did  his  utmost  to  induce  Sir 
James  Kirkcaldy  and  his  companions  to  attend  Mass 
with  him.  When  they  refused  to  do  so,  he  threatened 
to  compel  them  ;  but  they  warned  him  that,  if  he  chose 
to  adopt  such  a  course,  they  would,  by  their  irreverent 
behaviour,  let  all  present  know  their  contempt  for  the 
ceremony.  William  Kirkcaldy,  with  his  three  fellow- 
captives,  was  subjected  to  the  same  importunities  by 
the  captain  to  whose  keeping  he  had  been  entrusted 
at  Mont  Saint-Michel.  With  equal  firmness,  though  in 
a  more  bantering  tone,  he  replied  for  himself  and  for 
them,  that  'they  would  not  only  hear  Mass  every  day 
but  also  help  to  say  it,  providing  they  might  stick 
the  priests ;  otherwise  not.' 

Being  allowed  free  intercourse  with  the  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  and  with  the  other  inmates  of  the  fortress,  Kirk- 
caldy and  his  friends  succeeded  in  buying  the  services 
of  a  messenger,  by  whose  help  they  were  able  to  hold 
communication  with  the  other  prisoners,  from  whom  they 
had  been  separated  at  Rouen.  Availing  himself  of  the 
means  thus  afforded,  Kirkcaldy  wrote  to  John  Knox, 
to  ask  his  advice  with  regard  to  a  matter  about  which  it 
seems  difficult  to  understand  that  he  should  have  enter- 
tained any  doubt  or  felt  any  scruple.  He  wished  to 
know  whether  he  and  those  with  him  might,  with  a  safe 
conscience,  break  their  prison.  Knox  replied  that  they 
would  incur  no  moral  guilt  by  embracing  any  opportunity 
which  God  should  offer  them  to  regain  their  liberty, 
providing  they  used  no  unlawful  means,  and,  above  all, 
refrained  from  shedding  blood  in  the  attempt. 

Sir  James  Kirkcaldy  was  also  informed  of  his  son's 


44  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

intention ;  but  he  appears  to  have  given  the  bold  scheme 
but  scant  encouragement.  He  feared  that,  even  if  it 
proved  successful,  those  who  still  remained  in  captivity 
would  be  more  harshly  treated ;  and  it  was  out  of  de- 
ference to  him  that  Knox  so  earnestly  deprecated  any 
recourse  to  violent  measures. 

To  venture  across  the  quicksands  alone  would  have 
been  courting  death ;  and  as  a  first  step  towards  the 
execution  of  their  daring  project,  the  prisoners  had  to 
secure  the  assistance  of  a  guide.  In  that,  they  do  not 
appear  to  have  encountered  any  serious  difficulty.  One 
of  the  young  men  engaged  in  an  inferior  position  about 
the  Castle,  in  all  probability  the  same  who  had  enabled 
them  to  communicate  with  their  friends,  undertook  to 
show  them  a  safe  way  to  the  mainland  if  they  should 
succeed  in  eluding  the  vigilance  of  their  keepers.  For 
many  months  circumstances  prevented  the  carrying 
out  of  a  plan  which  the  restrictions  imposed  by  Knox, 
and  accepted  by  the  four  captives,  rendered  particu- 
larly hazardous  and  difficult ;  and  the  second  winter 
since  their  departure  from  Scotland  still  found  them 
fretting  for  liberty  on  the  isolated  rock.  At  length,  how- 
ever, their  knowledge  of  the  customs  of  those  amongst 
whom  they  were  living  told  them  that  the  time  for  action 
was  approaching.  In  those  days,  even  more  than  at 
present,  and  particularly  in  Normandy,  where  it  is  still 
widely  celebrated,  the  festival  of  the  Three  Kings — lejour 
des  Rois — as  the  Epiphany  is  called,  was  kept  as  a  popular 
holiday,  with  much  merry-making  and  carousing.  The 
nature  of  the  quaint  ceremonial  which  formed  a  part  of 
the  feast,  led  to  even  more  than  the  customary  indulgence 
on  the  part  of  the  revellers.  Every  time  that  the  mock 
monarch  of  the  evening,  elected  by  favour  of  the  bean 
hidden  in  the  Twelfth-Night  cake,  put  his  goblet  to  his 
lips,  the  cry  was  raised,  '  le  Roi  boit  I  k  Roi  boit  1 '  and 
all  his  faithful  subjects  showed  their  loyalty,  and  their 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  45 

appreciation  of  his  liberality,  by  draining  their  own  cups. 
Even  with  no  stronger  beverage  than  the  cider  of  the 
country,  such  repeated  potations  could  not  be  indulged 
in  with  impunity.  From  their  experience  of  the  preced- 
ing year,  Kirkcaldy  and  his  friends  knew  that,  when  the 
feast  closed,  the  garrison  and  the  household  were  in  no 
condition  to  give  much  attention  to  their  prisoners. 
They  laid  their  plan  accordingly.  To  abstain  from  join- 
ing in  festivities  which,  though  purely  social,  were  in- 
timately connected  with  a  religious  feast,  they  could  put 
forward  the  same  reason  that  had  stood  them  in  good 
stead  before — their  utter  contempt  for  popish  mummeries ; 
and  could,  therefore,  retain  the  full  possession  of  their 
mental  and  physical  energies  whilst  their  keepers  were 
sinking  into  helpless  intoxication.  Although  the  account 
given  by  Knox  is  regrettably  bare  of  details,  it  suggests 
that  the  garrison  of  Mont  Saint-Michel  was  reduced  to  its 
lowest  strength ;  and  this  circumstance  very  materially 
increased  the  Scotsmen's  chances  of  success. 

When  the  carousing  was  over  in  the  common  hall,  and 
when  the  revellers  had  retired  to  their  several  quarters, 
Kirkcaldy  and  his  three  friends  sallied  forth  on  their 
perilous  expedition.  Silently  and  stealthily  making  their 
way  to  the  rooms  where  the  soldiers  were  sunk  in  a  heavy 
sleep  they  first  gagged  and  bound  them  securely,  and  then 
locked  the  doors  on  them  to  prevent  pursuit,  even  if  the 
alarm  were  given.  But  the  only  means  of  exit  from  the 
fortress  was  closed  by  three  gates,  of  which  the  keys  were 
with  the  Governor ;  and  if  these  could  not  be  got,  the 
whole  enterprise  was  doomed  to  failure,  in  spite  of  the 
success  with  which  the  daring  of  the  four  Scotsmen  had 
so  far  been  favoured.  To  respect  the  conditions  which 
Knox  had  imposed  upon  them,  and  impressed  with  such 
earnestness  as  to  lead  them  to  look  upon  them  as  absol- 
utely essential  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  design,  it 
was  necessary  for  them  to  deal  with  the  captain  as  they 


46  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

had  done  with  the  guards,  not  to  dispatch  him  with  the 
weapons  that  now  lay  at  their  disposal,  but  to  overpower 
him  by  a  sudden  attack,  and  to  bind  him  before  he  could 
offer  any  resistance.  In  this,  too,  their  desperate  deter- 
mination secured  them  against  failure.  Favoured  by  the 
darkness,  they  reached  the  Logis  du  Roi,  which  formed  a 
part  of  the  machicolated  inner  gate,  and  contained  the 
apartments  assigned  to  the  military  guardian  of  the  strong- 
hold. When  they  left  it,  the  Governor  was  as  helpless  as 
his  men ;  and  the  keys  were  in  their  power.  After  raising 
the  portcullis,  they  opened  and  relocked  the  second  gate, 
passed  into  the  Cour  du  Lion,  and  came  to  the  outer 
barrier  of  the  barbacan.  The  massive  bolts  and  bars  of 
the  Bavole  were  hastily  pushed  back,  and  the  fugitives 
were  outside  the  walls  of  the  grim  prison,  secure  for  a 
while  from  pursuit,  but  with  the  dangerous  journey  across 
the  sands  still  before  them.  That,  too,  was  performed 
without  untoward  accident.  So  far  their  guide  proved 
faithful,  for  their  safety  was  his;  and  before  the  rising 
tide  had  spread  over  the  vast  stretch  of  sand,  and  again 
isolated  the  Mount,  they  had  reached  the  mainland,  at 
a  point  sufficiently  distant  from  Pontorson  to  insure  their 
being  unnoticed  by  the  sentries.  Here  the  guide  left 
them,  but  not  without  turning  against  them  the  treachery 
and  the  unscrupulous  greed  which  had  made  him  their 
tool.  By  some  means,  which  the  chroniclers  unfortunately 
leave  unexplained,  but  which  was  doubtless  supplied  by 
their  need  of  rest  and  sleep,  as  well  as  by  the  necessity 
for  concealment,  when  they  got  to  the  shore  in  the  early 
morning,  he  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  the  little 
stock  of  money  with  which  they  had  provided  themselves. 
When  the  time  came  for  them  to  resume  their  flight,  they 
found  themselves  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  depending 
on  the  charity  of  the  country  folk.  That  alone,  even 
apart  from  considerations  of  prudence,  made  it  advisable 
for  the  friends  to  part.  The  two  Lesleys  started  together 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  47 

in  one  direction,  and  ultimately  reached  a  place  which 
Calderwood  calls  'Roan,'  but  which  can  scarcely  have 
been  the  inland  town  of  Rohan,  as  some  later  writers  have 
thought.  It  is  more  natural  to  suppose  that,  in  their  ignor- 
ance of  the  country,  they  made  for  Rouen,  the  port  at 
which  they  had  landed. 

William  Kirkcaldy  and  Carmichael  proceeded  west- 
wards. As  soon  as  the  news  of  their  escape  became 
known,  diligent  search  was  made  for  them  throughout 
the  district.  Disguised  as  poor  mariners,  they  were, 
however,  able  to  elude  their  pursuers;  and  they  slowly 
and  cautiously  trudged  from  one  seaport  to  another,  in 
the  hope  of  finding  a  friendly  ship  that  would  give 
them  passage  to  England  or  to  Scotland.  But  all 
along  the  coast  persistent  ill-luck  followed  them.  Saint- 
Malo,  Saint  -  Brieuc,  Morlaix,  Roscoff,  Brest,  were 
vainly  tried  in  the  course  of  their  weary  search,  which 
lasted  through  thirteen  weeks;  and  the  fugitives  came 
to  the  little  town  of  Le  Conquet,  at  the  furthest  ex- 
tremity of  the  peninsula  of  Finistere,  without  finding  a 
favourable  opportunity  to  leave  the  country  where,  if  their 
identity  were  revealed,  any  of  the  fortresses  which  they 
passed  might  become  their  prison.  There,  at  length,  their 
wanderings  came  to  a  close.  In  the  diminutive  harbour, 
to  which,  in  spite  of  the  dangerous  rocks  and  reefs  that 
stretch  between  the  coast  and  the  wind-swept  island  of 
Ushant,  Scottish  mariners  sometimes  steered  their  course, 
they  found  a  ship  and  a  skipper  willing  to  take  them  back 
to  their  own  country. 

Kirkcaldy  and  his  companion  landed  on  the  west  coast 
of  Scotland  in  the  spring  of  1549.  But  they  were  not  in 
safety  yet.  It  was  only  across  the  Border  that  they  could 
consider  themselves  beyond  the  reach  of  their  enemies. 
The  short  journey  southwards,  however,  presented  but 
slight  difficulties  as  compared  with  what  they  had  already 
gone  through;  and  before  long  they  found  a  refuge  in 


48  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Berwick.  There  they  saw  John  Knox,  who  had  been 
released  that  winter ;  and  within  a  few  months  they  were 
able  to  meet  others  of  their  friends  in  England ;  for  the 
Scottish  captives  were  being  gradually  liberated,  and  by 
the  month  of  July  1550  a  general  amnesty  had  opened 
the  gates  of  the  French  prisons  for  the  last  of  the  St 
Andrews  rebels. 

Nothing  is  known  as  to  the  length  of  Kirkcaldy's  stay 
in  England ;  but  there  is  evidence  of  his  again  being  in 
France  before  the  close  of  1550.  In  that  year  Sir  John 
Mason,  writing  from  Blois  to  the  English  Council,  in- 
formed it  that  the  secret  agent  had  arrived  two  days 
before,  but  being  afraid  for  his  personal  safety,  had  re- 
solved to  return  at  once.  He  had  found  a  substitute  in 
Kirkcaldy  who  had  promised  to  communicate  to  Mason  all 
that  he  could  learn.  In  future  correspondence  he  was  to 
be  referred  to  as  Coraxe.  His  services  were  accepted,  and 
he  received  in  payment  for  them  a  yearly  pension,  which 
he  continued  to  draw  during  the  whole  of  Edward  VI.'s 
reign. 

Kirkcaldy's  questionable  loyalty  to  the  country  which 
afforded  him  hospitality  did  not  prevent  him  from  per- 
forming his  duty  with  conspicuous  bravery  as  a  soldier  in 
her  army.  Henry  II.  was  at  that  time  waging  war  against 
the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  was  glad  to  avail  himself 
of  the  services  of  the  Scots.  Two  of  these  in  particular 
distinguished  themselves  by  their  impetuous  courage  no 
less  than  by  their  military  skill.  They  were  Norman 
Lesley  and  William  Kirkcaldy.  To  the  former  of  these 
the  campaign  was  destined  to  prove  fatal ;  and  the  brief 
but  graphic  description  of  the  skirmish  in  which  he  was 
mortally  wounded,  cannot,  even  at  this  distance  of  time, 
be  read  without  sympathy  and  admiration.  He  had  gone 
with  the  cavalry  under  the  command  of  the  Conne*table 
to  harass  and  impede  the  progress  of  the  army  which  the 
Emperor  was  bringing  to  the  relief  of  Renti,  besieged  by 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  49 

the  French.  The  relative  positions  of  the  forces  were  not 
equal ;  for  whilst  those  of  Charles  were  advancing  along  a 
commanding  height,  Henry's  horsemen  were  in  the  plain 
below,  and  were  consequently  at  the  disadvantage  of 
having  to  ride  up  hill  to  attack  the  enemy.  Regardless 
of  the  odds  the  Scottish  captain,  mounted  upon  'a  fair 
gray  gelding,'  fearlessly  headed  a  charge  of  thirty  of  his 
own  countrymen.  The  incident  is  best  given  in  the 
words  of  another  Scot — Sir  James  Melville — who  writes 
with  the  authority  of  an  eye-witness.  '  He  had  above  his 
coat  of  black  velvet  his  coat  of  armour  with  two  broad 
white  crosses,  the  one  before,  and  the  other  behind,  with 
sleeves  of  mail,  and  a  red  bonnet  upon  his  head,  whereby 
he  was  known  and  seen  afar  off  by  the  Constable,  the 
Duke  of  Enghien,  and  the  Prince  of  Cond£  :  where,  with 
his  thirty,  he  charged  upon  sixty  of  their  horsemen  with 
culverines,  followed  but  with  seven  of  his  number.  He, 
in  our  sight,  struck  five  of  them  from  their  horses  with  his 
spear  before  it  brake  :  then  he  drew  his  sword,  and  ran  in 
among  them,  not  valuing  their  continual  shooting,  to  the 
admiration  of  the  beholders.  He  slew  divers  of  them, 
and  at  length  when  he  saw  a  company  of  spearmen 
coming  down  against  him,  he  gave  his  horse  the  spurs, 
who  carried  him  to  the  Constable,  and  there  fell  down 
dead ;  for  he  had  many  shots :  and  worthy  Normar>  was 
also  shot  in  divers  parts,  whereof  he  died  fifteen  days 
after.  He  was  first  carried  to  the  King's  own  tent,  where 
the  Duke  of  Enghien  and  Prince  of  Condd  told  his 
Majesty,  that  Hector  of  Troy  was  not  more  valiant  than 
the  said  Norman :  whom  the  said  King  would  see 
dressed  by  his  own  chirurgeons,  and  made  great  moan 
for  him.  So  did  the  Constable,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
Princes.' 

By  none  was  the  valiant  Master  of  Rothes  more  deeply 
and  more  sincerely  regretted  than  by  his  companion  in 
many  a  perilous  adventure — William  Kirkcaldy.  He 

D 


50  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

had  been  given  the  command  of  a  hundred  light  horse- 
men ;  and  with  these  he  had  been  sent  out  on  a  secret 
expedition,  from  which  he  did  not  return  till  the  day  after 
the  fatal  skirmish.  Within  a  few  hours,  the  battle  of 
Renti  afforded  him  and  his  Scots  an  opportunity  of 
avenging  their  countryman.  That  he  who  was  'like  a 
lion  in  the  field '  did  not  spare  the  enemy  may  well  be 
assumed.  Unfortunately,  however,  there  is  no  record 
of  his  exploits  either  on  that  day,  or,  indeed,  on  any 
of  the  occasions  when  he  did  'such  notable  service  in 
France.'  We  only  know  that  his  conduct  won  the 
warmest  praise  from  such  men  as  Vendome,  Conde*,  and 
Aumale ;  that  the  famous  Conne*table  would  never  allow 
him  to  stand  bare-headed  in  his  presence,  and  that,  in  the 
hearing  of  Melville,  who  records  the  flattering  incident, 
King  Henry  II.,  pointing  to  him  said,  '  Yonder  is  one  of 
the  most  valiant  men  of  our  age.' 

Nor  was  it  in  battle  only  that  Kirkcaldy  won  distinction. 
He  showed  to  equal  advantage  at  the  polished  court  of 
the  Valois,  and  always  figured  amongst  the  foremost  in 
the  sports  which  the  King  favoured,  and  in  which  he  him- 
self took  a  leading  part.  So  openly,  indeed,  did  Henry 
show  his  admiration  of  the  Scottish  captain,  that  'he 
chose  him  commonly  upon  his  side  in  all  pastimes  he 
went  to.' 

But,  at  the  height  of  his  fortunes,  Kirkcaldy  did  not 
forget  his  own  country,  or  abandon  the  policy  which  he 
conscientiously  believed  to  be  for  her  advantage.  As  a 
soldier,  he  was  ready  to  serve  the  French  King  against  his 
continental  enemies;  but,  as  a  politician,  he  did  not 
hesitate  or  scruple  to  thwart  his  schemes  by  all  the  means 
in  his  power  when  their  object  seemed  to  be  the 
subjection  of  Scotland  to  the  rule  of  France — the  erection 
of  the  land  into  a  province,  as  Melville  forcibly  puts  it. 
With  this  object  in  view  he  had  thought  himself  justified 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  51 

in  acting  as  a  secret  agent,  and  supplying  the  English 
Government  with  such  information  as  might  enable  it  to 
follow  the  negotiations  between  the  French  party  in 
Edinburgh  and  their  friends  in  Paris.  But  his  services 
had  been  dispensed  with  when  Queen  Mary  succeeded 
her  half-brother  Edward  on  the  throne.  It  was  no  loftier 
sense  of  honour,  but  rather  a  narrow  spirit  of  intolerance 
that  led  to  the  step;  and  the  reason  assigned  for  the 
withdrawal  of  the  secret  service  money,  which  had  en- 
abled Kirkcaldy  to  obtain,  and  to  supply  intelligence  to 
England,  was  simply  that  '  no  Catholic  Power  should  pay 
or  maintain  the  murderers  of  a  Catholic  Cardinal.' 

As  Kirkcaldy  was  in  the  receipt  of  ample  pay  from 
Henry  II.,  and  as  even  his  detractors  never  accused  him 
of  avarice  or  greed — a  charge  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  substantiate  in  the  face  of  the  distinct  statement 
made  by  Melville,  that  he  never  sought  payment  of  the 
'  honourable  pension '  granted  him  on  his  retirement  from 
the  French  service — it  cannot  be  supposed  that  he  was 
actuated  by  mercenary  motives  when,  in  1556,  he  again 
offered  his  services  to  Queen  Mary,  through  Dr  Wotton, 
promising  that  she  should  have  '  good  intelligence  of  the 
affairs  of  Scotland  and  of  France  by  his  intimacy  with 
those  of  both  nations.'  No  answer  having  been  vouch- 
safed to  these  overtures,  Kirkcaldy  resolved  to  return  to 
Scotland,  where,  as  his  knowledge  of  the  negotiations 
carried  on  with  the  French  Court  enabled  him  to  foresee, 
important  events  were  about  to  take  place.  Before 
leaving  Paris,  however,  he  again  applied  to  the  English 
Ambassador,  Dr  Wotton,  from  whom  he  received  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  Lord  Paget,  Lord  Privy-Seal,  and  Sir 
William  Petre,  Secretary  of  State.  It  laid  special  stress 
on  the  bearer's  discontent  with  the  present  state  of 
Scotland,  and  on  his  desire  to  see  it  delivered  from  the 
yoke  of  the  French  and  restored  to  its  former  liberty.  It 


52  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

referred  to  his  English  sympathies,  but  added  a  very 
important  and  very  honourable  qualification;  for  it  was 
only  'next  to  his  country'  that  he  was  represented  as 
having  '  a  good  mind  to  England.' 

On  the  z8th  of  May  1557,  Lord  Wentworth,  writing  to 
Queen  Mary,  informed  her  that  Kirkcaldy  was  then  at 
Dieppe,  '  tarying  only  the  wind  to  pass  to  Scotland.' 


V.    HOME  AGAIN 

ABOUT  the  year  1556,  Sir  James  Kirkcaldy  closed  his 
chequered  career.  The  latter  years  of  his  life,  those  sub- 
sequent to  his  return  from  captivity,  had  been  spent  in 
retirement  and  comparative  obscurity.  After  mentioning 
his  liberation,  and  the  amnesty  which  put  an  end  to  his 
exile  from  Scotland,  the  chronicles  and  letters  of  the 
period  make  no  further  reference  to  him ;  and  it  is  only 
from  an  entry  in  a  writ  of  Chancery  that  the  approximate 
date  of  his  death  can  be  determined. 

It  was  as  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  of  Grange  that  his  son 
returned  to  his  native  land.  The  first  incident  in  which 
he  figures,  though  but  of  slight  importance  in  itself,  is  too 
characteristic  of  his  chivalrous  nature  and  martial  spirit  to 
be  omitted.  It  had  chanced,  some  time  previously,  that 
in  the  course  of  one  of  those  raids,  which  were  of  con- 
stant occurrence  on  the  Border,  John  Kirkcaldy  had 
been  made  prisoner,  by  a  party  of  Englishmen,  belonging 
to  the  garrison  of  Berwick,  of  which  Lord  Evers  was 
governor  at  the  time.  According  to  the  recognised 
custom  of  the  age,  the  young  Scotsman  was  kept  in 
confinement  until  such  time  as  his  friends  should  pay 
the  ransom  demanded  by  his  captors.  But,  from  the 
account  which  he  gave  after  his  release,  it  appeared  that 
he  had  been  treated  with  undue  harshness  by  Lord  Evers 
during  his  enforced  stay  within  the  walls  of  the  English 
fortress.  John  Kirkcaldy  himself  was  not  of  sufficient 
rank  and  standing  to  demand  satisfaction  of  the  governor. 
His  cousin,  however,  was  a  soldier  whose  reputation  made 
it  no  disgrace  for  the  bravest  Englishman  to  break  a  lance 

S3 


54  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

with  him.  As  his  kinsman's  champion,  the  Laird  of 
Grange  sent  a  challenge  to  the  Governor  of  Berwick  to 
meet  him  in  single  combat.  But  he  had  not  reckoned  on 
the  punctiliousness  of  the  English  lord.  Evers  pleaded 
no  justification  of  his  conduct,  nor  did  he  deny  the  Scots- 
men's right,  according  to  the  established  laws  of  chivalry, 
to  demand  satisfaction ;  but  he  would  not  recognise  the 
simple  Scottish  Baron  as  his  equal,  and  consequently 
declined  the  encounter.  To  ignore  the  cartel  altogether, 
would,  however,  have  exposed  the  English  to  taunts  too 
insulting  to  be  borne  with  equanimity;  and  for  the 
honour  of  his  country  and  of  his  family,  Lord  Evers's 
brother,  Sir  Ralph,  gallantly  made  known  his  readiness 
to  fight  with  the  Laird  of  Grange  '  ane  singular  combatt 
upoun  horsback  with  speares.'  To  this  he  received  the 
reply,  that  Sir  William  was  '  verrie  weill  content  thairof, 
and  to  meitt  him  in  ony  place  he  pleised.'  It  was 
accordingly  arranged  that  the  duel  should  take  place  at 
Halidon  Hill,  in  presence  of  the  two  garrisons  of  Berwick 
and  of  Eyemouth,  but  that  under  pain  of  treason,  no  man 
should  come  within  an  arrow's  flight  of  the  two  champions. 
Each  of  them,  however,  was  allowed  to  have  an  attendant 
to  bear  his  spear.  There  were  also  to  be  two  trumpeters, 
and  two  lords  '  to  be  judges  to  see  the  matter  finished.' 
On  the  appointed  day,  the  two  knights  rode  into  the  field. 
Sir  Ralph  Evers  was  accompanied  by  his  brother,  the 
Governor  of  Berwick,  in  whose  cause  he  was  about  to  fight, 
and  by  eleven  other  English  knights.  With  Sir  William 
Kirkcaldy,  there  were  also  twelve  gentlemen,  of  whom  one 
was  Monsieur  d'Oysel,  the  King  of  France's  lieutenant. 

When  the  judges  of  the  field  examined  the  armour  of 
the  two  champions,  some  difficulty  arose  by  reason  of 
Kirkcaldy's  better  equipment.  According  to  the  English 
annalist  Hollinshed,  who  is  as  scrupulous  in  mentioning 
the  detail  as  the  Scottish  chronicler  Pitscottie  is  careful 
to  overlook  it,  they  objected  that  '  Grange  was  armed  in 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  55 

a  coat  of  plate,  and  a  cuirass  aloft  upon  it,'  whilst  Evers 
'was  clad  onelie  in  a  single  coat  of  plate,  without  anie 
other  pieces  of  armor  for  defense  of  his  body.'  The 
English  knight,  however,  declared  himself  satisfied;  and 
the  duel  was  proceeded  with.  The  description  given  of 
it  by  the  two  writers  who  have  thought  it  worthy  of 
record,  is  very  characteristic.  It  shows  how  national 
sympathies  influence  them,  even  in  trifling  matters ;  and 
may  serve  to  convey  some  notion  of  the  difficulty  which 
there  is  in  arriving  at  the  truth  with  regard  to  more 
important  events.  Hollinshed  is  content  with  the  state- 
ment that  the  combatants  '  ran  together,  and  brake  both 
their  staves,'  and  that  '  as  it  fortuned,  Master  Evers  was 
hurt  in  the  flank.'  Pitscottie  has  expanded  this  into  a 
picturesque  narrative.  'When  all  things  war  put  to 
ordour,'  he  says,  'and  the  championes  horssed,  and  thair 
speares  in  thair  handis,  then  the  trumpetteris  soundit,  and 
the  heraldis  cryed,  and  the  judges  leitt  thame  goe,  and 
they  ran  togidder  verrie  furiouslie  on  both  sydis,  bot  the 
laird  of  Grange  rane  his  adversar,  the  Inglisman,  throw 
the  shoulder  blaid,  and  aff  his  hors,  and  was  woundit 
deadlie,  and  in  perrill  of  his  lyff.  Bot  quhidder  he  died 
or  leived  I  cannot  tell ;  but  the  laird  of  Grange  wan  the 
victorie  that  day.' 

In  spite  of  the  irregular  and  desultory  fighting  of  which 
the  meeting  between  Kirkcaldy  and  Evers  was  an  incident, 
Scotland  and  England  were  not  actually  at  war  with  each 
other.  France,  it  is  true,  was  using  all  its  influence  to 
create  a  diversion  in  its  own  favour  by  inducing  the 
Queen-Regent  to  send  a  Scottish  army  across  the  Border ; 
and,  in  anticipation  of  a  conflict  between  the  two  nations, 
the  restless  and  warlike  Barons  of  the  Marches  were 
already  making  inroads  into  the  country  of  the  prospec- 
tive enemy.  But  when  Mary,  after  having  assembled 
an  army  at  Kelso,  announced  her  intention  of  declaring 
war  on  England,  a  powerful  party,  with  Chastelherault, 


5  6  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Huntly,  Cassilis,  and  Argyle  at  its  head,  obliged  her  to 
desist.  With  a  view  to  checking  the  power  of  those 
noblemen,  the  Regent  formed  a  plan  for  recalling  the 
Earl  of  Lennox  from  his  exile  in  England.  This  gave 
rise  to  negotiations,  in  which  Kirkcaldy  acted  as  agent, 
and  of  which  a  cessation  of  the  Border  warfare  also 
appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  objects.  They  were 
opened  by  the  Bishop  of  Caithness,  who,  on  the  zoth  of 
November  1557,  wrote  to  Lord  Wharton  : — 

'  My  Lorde ;  This  shall  be  to  chardge  and  request  your 
Lordshipp  in  homelye  manner  to  be  so  favourable  and  good 
for  such  love  and  favour  as  I  do  knowe  you  bear  unto  my 
Lorde  my  brother,  and  to  tayke  the  paynes  to  cause  this 
lytell  mass  of  writings  to  be  wyth  all  diligence  conveyed 
unto  his  Lordshipp,  so  being  that  passage  cannot  be  had 
to  Wyllyam  Kyrkaudye,  unto  whome  the  said  writings  are 
directed,  to  be  presented  by  him  unto  my  Laydy's  grace, 
my  sister,  trusting  that  your  Lordshipp  will  do  so  moche 
for  myne  owne  request,  tho'  the  matter  appertained  not 
unto  my  Lorde  or  my  Laydy  forsayd,  whose  affaires  I 
doubte  not  but  your  Lordshippe  dothe  regarde  and  weigh 
as  your  owne,  which  movethe  me  to  be  the  more  homely 
with  you  at  this  tyme.  Referring  the  premisses  unto 
your  Lordshipp's  good  mynde,  and  thus  wyth  my  mooste 
hartie  comendacions  unto  your  good  Lordshipp,  bid  you 
mooste  hartely  to  farewell.  Of  Edenboroughe  the  .xth 
daye  of  November  1557,  by  the  hande  of 

Your  Lordshipp's  good  Friend  in  the  olde 
manner  lawfully 
ROBARTT,  BUSCHOPP  of  Cathness.' 

Three  days  later,  Kirkcaldy,  in  conformity  with  the 
instructions  he  had  received,  wrote  the  following  request 
for  a  secret  interview  with  Wharton  : — 

1  These  shall  be  to  certify  your  Lordship,  this  last  Fryday, 
at  night,  there  came  ane  speciall  friend  of  my  Ladye  Mar- 
garet Dowglass's  grace,  and  of  my  Lorde  her  bedfellowe's, 
to  me  with  an  masse  of  Letters  dyrected  to  your  Lordship, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  57 

and  because  this  friend,  that  hath  sent  these  letters,  knoweth 
that  I  have  always  bene  wyllinge  to  do  pleasure  and  service 
to  the  forsayd  Laydye  and  Lorde,  hathe  desyred  me  moost 
ernestly  to  see  them  delyvered  secretely,  wythe  certaine 
secrets  to  your  Lordship,  the  which  I  wold  gladly  do,  yf 
I  might  be  assured  to  come  quietly  unto  you,  wythoute 
the  knowledge  of  anye  but  some  sure  friende  of  your 
owne,  whome  yt  will  pleas  your  Lordship,  if  ye  think  ye 
good  I  come  unto  you,  to  cause  meet  me  at  Lamertone 
churche,  this  setterday  night,  halfe  an  houre  after  the 
sunset,  where  I  shall  be  with  one  in  company.  And  for 
the  lesse  susspicione,  I  wold  desyre  your  Lordship  that 
I  might  be  with  you  in  the  fornight,  to  the  ende  I  might  be 
come  back  agayne  or  daye.  Besides  all  these  premisses, 
I  have  some  other  matters  to  declare  unto  your  Lordship. 
Your  answer  in  writing  with  expedycion  I  moost  hartely 
desyre,  and  so  bidd  your  Lordship  weill  fayr.  From 
Haymowth,  this  Setterday  the  xiii  of  November,  1557. 

By  him  whome  your  Lordship  may  com- 
maunde  after  his  pore  power 

WlLLM.  KlRKALDYE.' 

Wharton  at  once  sent  a  reply.  He  readily  consented 
to  an  interview  with  Kirkcaldy,  and  undertook  to  observe 
all  the  precautions  suggested  by  his  correspondent  with  a 
view  to  insuring  the  secrecy  upon  which  so  much  stress 
was  laid.  His  courteous  note  concluded  with  the  expres- 
sion of  his  satisfaction  that  the  Laird  of  Grange  continued 
his  good  mind  to  my  Lady  Margaret  Lennox  and  her 
husband,  and  with  the  assurance  that  they  should  be 
informed  of  it.  The  meeting  duly  took  place  in  the 
evening ;  and  the  following  detailed  account  of  what  was 
discussed  at  it  was  drawn  up  by  Lord  Wharton  next  day, 
and  forwarded  to  the  Privy  Council. 

'  Pleaseth  it  your  most  honourable  Lordships  to  be 
advertised  that  the  i3th  of  this  month  William  Kirkcaldy 
sent  me  a  letter ;  and  to  the  intent  to  know  as  I  could  his 
meaning  or  practice,  I  wrote  answer  as  your  Lordships 


58  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

may  perceive  by  the  copies  of  his  letter  and  mine  answer 
therein  enclosed.  The  same  night  he  was  with  me  in  my 
chamber;  and  first  delivered  a  letter  unto  me  from  the 
Bishop  of  Caithness,  copy  whereof  I  send  also  with  these 
unto  your  Lordships.  He  delivered  a  packet  of  letters 
endorsed  to  my  Lady  Margaret  Lennox,  her  Grace,  which 
I  have  sent  with  this  post  towards  her  and  my  Lord  her 
husband,  with  a  letter  therein  from  Kirkcaldy  to  his  Lord- 
ship. After  this  I  had  long  talk  with  him  that  night, 
and  questioned  thoroughly  that  cause  of  my  Lady  Margaret 
and  my  Lord  of  Lennox — from  whom  the  letters  were 
sent,  with  whose  advice,  and  who  would  be  their  friends 
in  that  realm,  I  accounting  to  him  their  enemies,  which 
were  great  and  many.  His  sayings,  so  near  as  I  could, 
I  gathered  as  followeth. 

'He  saith  that  the  Prior  of  St  Andrews,  who  is  accounted 
the  wisest  of  the  late  King's  base  sons,  and  one  of  the 
Council  of  Scotland,  the  Earl  of  Glencairn  and  the  Bishop 
of  Caithness,  did  agree  to  write  the  letters  in  the  packet, 
and  that  the  Dowager  is  of  counsel  and  consenting  there- 
with ;  and  that  she  wrote  her  letters  to  Monsieur  d'Oysel, 
to  cause  Kirkcaldy  make  devise  to  send  the  letters  to  me, 
that  they  might  pass  in  haste;  and  that  the  Dowager's 
letter  did  meet  d'Oysel  beside  Dunbar,  towards  Edinburgh, 
the  1 3th  of  this  month.  D'Oysel  returned*  Kirkcaldy, 
upon  the  sight  of  the  Dowager's  letter,  with  the  packet 
forthwith,  who  saith  to  me,  it  is  the  Queen  and  d'Oysel's 
device,  and  d'Oysel  very  earnest  therewith,  with  many 
words  that  he  hath  given  to  Kirkcaldy  of  the  great  dis- 
pleasure that  the  Queen  and  d'Oysel  beareth,  especially 
against  the  Duke  of  Chastelherault  and  the  Earl  of  Huntly, 
and  against  others  whom  d'Oysel  nameth  the  feeble  and 
false  noblemen  of  Scotland.  Amongst  others,  he  said 
when  their  army  retired  and  their  ordnance  was  to  be 
carried  on  the  water,  d'Oysel  sent  to  the  Duke  that  he 
would  see  the  ordnance  returned  over  the  water  again 
*  Sent  back. 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  59 

and  that  it  might  be  put  in  safety.  The  messenger  said 
to  the  Duke  that  d'Oysel  was  angry  with  their  retire  and 
breach  of  their  promise,  and  also  not  regarding  the  surety 
of  their  ordnance.  The  Duke's  answer  was,  "Let  Monsieur 
d'Oysel  gang  by  his  mind,  an  he  will;  for  as  we,  the  noble- 
men of  Scotland,  have  determined  and  written  to  the 
Queen,  so  will  we  do,  and  let  him  look  to  his  own  charge." 
The  messenger  told  the  Duke's  words  to  d'Oysel,  and  so 
was  d'Oysel  left.  Upon  which  words,  and  their  manner 
of  dealing,  d'Oysel  will  seek  their  displeasure  by  all  the 
ways  and  means  he  can,  and  so  will  the  Dowager,  as 
Kirkcaldy  saith. 

1  In  talks  with  him,  I  said  it  was  a  great  matter  to 
enterprise,  to  bring  into  that  realm  my  Lady  Margaret 
Lennox  and  my  Lord  her  husband,  and  that  power  of 
noblemen  and  of  others,  with  houses  of  strength  must  be 
provided  in  that  realm,  and  to  be  in  surety  thereof  before 
their  coming,  for  I  thought  they  were  personages  which 
would  not  be  sent  forth  of  this  realm  into  Scotland,  to 
live  in  danger  of  their  enemies,  now  being  great.  He 
said,  the  coming  of  my  Lady  to  the  Dowager,  with  their 
friends  there,  would  order  that  matter;  and  said,  they  might 
first  have  the  Castle  of  Tantallon,  which  is  in  the  keeping 
of  the  Lord  of  Craigmillar,  and  at  the  Dowager's  order. 
He  speaketh  liberally,  that  they  would  have  many  friends, 
and  also  have  on  their  side  the  authority  that  now  is. 
Their  friends  earnestly  desire  the  hasty  sending  of  Nesbit, 
my  Lord  of  Lennox's  servant.  This  matter,  as  I  think  in 
my  poor  opinion,  may  be  wrought  for  my  Lady  Margaret 
and  my  Lord  of  Lennox's  purposes,  and  to  continue  the  dis- 
pleasure now  standing  amongst  the  greatest  of  that  realm. 

'After  this,  Kirkcaldy  said,  that  he  marvelled  that  the 
communication  between  Sir  James  Crofts  and  him,  for 
a  truce  of  certain  days  to  have  been  made,  was  not  agreed 
unto ;  and  said  the  same  matter  was  one  of  the  occasions 
of  his  coming  to  me,  to  declare  his  doings  therein ;  whom 
I  answered  that  the  same  was  not  like  to  take  effect  by 


60  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

his  doings  for  Scotland,  for,  they  made  sundry  meetings 
and  countenances  for  truce,  and  when  their  army  was 
ready,  did  let  the  matter  fall,  which  gave  occasion  to  be 
thought  in  this  realm  not  well  done.  And  after,  he 
revived  again  that  communication,  which,  without  others 
calling  for,  and  personages  for  that  realm  to  have  been 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  he  ought  to  think  the  same 
could  not  take  effect.  After  this,  he  asked  me,  if  it  could 
not  be  brought  to  a  truce  yet.  I  said  I  had  no  commission, 
nor  anything  to  say  therein ;  what  he  would  say,  I  would 
hear  it.  And  then  he  desired  mine  advice.  I  told  him 
what  I  had  seen — that  Scotland,  in  war,  had  sent  messages 
to  officers  or  to  noblemen,  and  thereupon  meetings  of 
commissioners  did  follow,  for  abstinence,  which  was  had, 
and  after,  peace.  And  I  making  occasion  of  other  com- 
munications, he  came  to  this  again,  and  desired  that  a 
herald  should  be  sent  to  my  Lord  of  Northumberland, 
Lord  Warden,  and  to  me,  having  some  prisoners  taken  by 
the  garrison  here,  that  gentlemen  might  be  appointed,  and 
treat  for  the  order  of  prisoners  of  both  realms,  as  before 
they  did ;  and  at  that  meeting,  the  former  sayings  of  Sir 
James  Crofts  and  him  to  be  spoken  of,  for  a  truce  for 
certain  days,  and  to  be  remembered  by  the  Scots.  I 
asked  whom  he  thought  should  be  appointed  (if  meeting 
were  had).  He  said,  the  Lord  Seaton,  Captain  Sarlabois 
— to  be  one  because  he  was  one  before — the  Laird  of 
Craigmillar,  and  the  young  Laird  of  Lethington ;  or  two 
of  them.  These  are  the  Dowager's  and  great  with  her. 
I  told  him  that  I  could  make  him  no  answer ;  but  said, 
if  it  were  his  mind,  I  would  make  advertisements  of  his 
sayings,  which  he  desired  that  I  would,  to  my  Lords  of 
the  King  and  Queen's  Majesty's  most  Honourable  Privy 
Council.  He  said  that  Scotland  would  agree  to  an 
abstinence  for  twenty  days  or  for  three  months;  but, 
always  they  mind  to  have  a  licence  for  an  especial  man 
to  pass  through  this  realm  with  the  Dowager's  letters  to 
the  French  King  for  knowledge  of  his  further  pleasure  to 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  61 

their  treaties  and  doings.  And  I  asking  him  what  news 
he  had,  and  reasoning  of  the  present  state  and  devices  for 
the  order  of  their  realm,  he  said,  that,  on  Sunday  last,  the 
7th  of  November,  there  arrived  a  ship  at  Leith,  with  letters 
and  money  from  the  French  King.  He  said  he  read  a 
letter  written  from  the  said  King  to  d'Oysel,  wherein  was 
that  he  should  have  all  his  desires  of  men  and  money; 
and  that  a  letter  was  written  from  Bettancourt,  Master  of 
the  Dowager's  household  (who  passed  from  the  Dowager 
to  the  French  King  for  an  aid  in  summer  last)  that  he 
with  four  ensigns  and  twelve  hundred  footmen,  and  two 
hundred  horsemen,  were  dispatched  to  come  into  Scot- 
land by  the  West  Seas,  whom  continually  they  look  for 
there.  Captain  Grayer  and  the  Englishmen  in  France 
are  appointed  to  serve  in  Scotland  as  he  saith.  He  said 
that  it  was  written  that  the  French  King  was  in  the  field 
with  a  great  army,  and  intended  to  besiege  St  Quentin. 
He  further  said  that  they  have  three  hundred  in  garrison 
in  Kelso,  and  that  they  have  in  Eyemouth  and  Ayton, 
nine  hundred,  besides  three  hundred  Scots  in  garrison, 
and  that  they  mind,  having  money  now  come  (whereof 
was  great  want),  to  make  a  more  furniture  of  five  hundred 
Scotts  horsemen,  himself,  the  Laird  of  Ormistone,  James 
Stuart,  one  Livingstone,  and  a  fifth,  whom  he  could  not 
name,  to  be  their  Captains.  I  told  him  these  were  many 
hundreds  he  spoke  of,  if  all  might  be  well  paid  ;  and  said 
that  his  news  and  these  would  give  occasion  to  think  that 
this  realm  should  not  treat  of  abstinence  nor  peace.  He 
answered  that  Monsieur  d'Oysel  thought  the  peace  would 
be  made  between  the  King's  Highness  and  the  French 
King,  and  doubteth  nothing  thereof,  except  the  Duke  of 
Savoy;  and  therefore  he  would  that  peace  should  be 
treated  upon  here. 

'He  saith  that  they  will  have  a  parliament  at  Saint 
Andrew's  day  to  appoint  the  marriage  of  the  Queen, 
which,  he  saith,  will  be  solemnised  after  Christmas,  or  at 
Easter,  and  not  to  fail.  He  saith  the  going  of  Monsieur 


62  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

d'Oysel  to  Edinburgh  at  this  time,  is  for  the  order  of  the 
money  come,  which  the  Dowager  and  d'Oysel  will  keep 
secret  so  much  as  they  can,  because  the  Scotts  will  be 
greedy  thereof.' 

On  this  incident,  which  does  not  appear  to  have  led  to 
any  definite  results,  Tytler  has  founded  a  charge  of  gross 
inconsistency  against  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy.  Even  the 
fragment  of  Wharton's  report  quoted  by  him  contains 
nothing  that  can  be  looked  upon  as  supporting  the 
accusation.  An  examination  of  all  the  documents  bear- 
ing on  the  case  wholly  refutes  it.  It  makes  it  clear  that 
the  main  object  of  the  conference  was  the  recall  of  the 
Earl  of  Lennox — a  scheme  to  which  Kirkcaldy,  who,  in 
his  own  words,  had  'always  been  willing  to  do  pleasure 
and  service '  to  the  Earl  and  his  wife,  might  honourably 
lend  himself.  With  regard  to  the  informal  conversation 
on  the  subject  of  a  truce,  it  was,  obviously,  nothing  more 
than  the  revival  of  a  subject  which  had  already  been 
openly  discussed  with  Crofts ;  and  whatever  construction 
may  be  given  to  it,  there  is  manifest  unfairness  in  dis- 
torting it  into  the  abandonment,  on  Kirkcaldy's  part,  of 
the  principles  which  he  had  formerly  professed ;  on  the 
contrary,  if  it  can  be  held  to  prove  anything,  that  can 
only  be  a  wish  for  the  establishment  of  more  friendly 
relations  with  England.  As  to  '  inviting  a  French  army 
into  the  country,'  there  is  nothing  in  Wharton's  report 
that  justifies  the  assumption  that  Grange  favoured  such  a 
measure.  He  referred  to  the  expected  arrival  of  troops, 
simply  in  answer  to  the  question  asked  him,  as  to  the 
latest  news ;  and  the  fact  of  his  communicating  such 
details  to  an  English  agent  might,  with  some  plausibility, 
serve  as  an  argument  that  he  had  but  little  sympathy 
with  the  Dowager's  French  policy. 


VL    THE  UPROAR  OF  RELIGION 

THE  year  1559  marks  one  of  the  most  important  events 
in  the  history  of  the  Scottish  people.  In  that  year  began 
'the  uproar  of  religion,'  as  Pitscottie  quaintly  yet  vigor- 
ously styles  it.  Instigated  by  her  brothers,  Mary  of  Guise, 
the  Queen-Regent  of  Scotland,  inaugurated  the  unwise 
and  unscrupulous  policy  by  which  she  and  they  hoped  to 
check  the  growing  power  of  the  Protestant  party,  and  to 
secure  the  ascendancy  of  France.  A  little  before  Easter, 
she  issued  a  proclamation  '  commanding  every  man,  great 
and  small,  to  observe  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  to 
resort  daily  to  the  Mass,  that  all  should  make  confession 
in  the  ear  of  a  priest,  and  receive  the  sacrament.'  In 
addition  to  that,  she  summoned  several  of  the  most  in- 
fluential amongst  the  Protestant  Lords,  and,  after  com- 
municating to  them  the  instructions,  '  mixed  with  some 
threatenings,'  which  Bettancourt  had  brought  from  the 
French  Court,  she  called  upon  them  to  abjure  the  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  the  Reformed  religion.  More 
injudiciously  still,  she  ordered  the  leaders  of  the  Re- 
formed clergy  to  attend  a  Court  of  Justice,  which  was  to 
be  held  at  Stirling,  and  before  which  they  would  be 
required  to  defend  their  teaching  and  their  conduct. 
In  the  face  of  this  wanton  provocation  the  '  Professors ' 
acted  with  calm  and  dignified  determination.  They  sent 
Alexander,  Earl  of  Glencairn,  and  Sir  Hugh  Campbell  of 
Lowdan,  Sheriff  of  Ayr,  to  remonstrate  with  the  Queen- 
Regent,  and  to  beseech  her  to  use  no  violent  measures 
against  the  Protestant  ministers,  'unless  any  man  were 
able  to  convict  them  of  false  doctrine.'  To  this  she 

61 


64  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

replied  in  violent  and  intolerant  language :  '  In  despite 
of  you,  and  your  ministers  both,'  she  said,  '  they  shall  be 
banished  out  of  Scotland,  albeit  they  preached  as  true  as 
ever  did  Saint  Paul.' 

Though  both  astonished  and  shocked  at  this  'proud 
and  blasphemous  answer,'  Glencairn  and  Campbell 
maintained  their  self-restraint.  They  contented  them- 
selves with  representing  to  her  that  her  former  tolerance 
had  given  such  strength  to  the  Reformed  religion,  that 
she  could  no  longer  hope  to  repress  it ;  and  with 
appealing  to  the  promises  which  she  had  herself  made 
to  her  Protestant  subjects.  At  this  her  anger  burst  forth 
again ;  and  she  told  them  that  '  it  became  not  subjects 
to  burden  their  Princes  with  promises,  further  than  it 
pleased  them  to  keep.'  The  deputies  firmly  replied  by 
pointing  out  the  disastrous  consequences  that  would 
inevitably  ensue  from  such  high-handed  action,  and  by 
warning  the  Regent  that  the  responsibility  for  them 
would  fall  upon  her.  This  produced  a  salutary  effect; 
and  Mary  so  far  relented  as  to  promise  that  she  would 
give  the  matter  further  consideration. 

At  this  juncture,  the  spontaneous  development  of 
events  brought  about  new  complications,  and  made  it 
evident  that  an  amicable  settlement  of  the  quarrel  be- 
tween the  two  parties  was  no  longer  possible.  The  town 
of  Perth  openly  embraced  the  Reformed  religion — a 
measure  which,  in  the  words  of  the  chronicler,  '  provoked 
the  Queen-Regent  to  a  new  fury.'  She  at  once  sent 
orders  to  Lord  Ruthven,  who  was  Provost  at  the  time, 
to  take  the  most  rigorous  means  for  the  suppression  of 
the  heretical  outbreak.  He  replied  that  he  could  oblige 
the  citizens  to  bring  their  bodies  to  her  Grace,  and  to 
prostrate  themselves  before  her,  till  she  was  satiate  with 
their  blood,  but  that  he  could  not  undertake  to  make  them 
do  anything  against  their  consciences.  On  receiving  the 
'malapert'  answer,  Mary  of  Guise  commanded  that  the 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  65 

summons  issued  to  the  preachers  should  take  effect,  and 
that  they  should  appear  at  Stirling  on  the  i  oth  of  May. 

The  leaders  of  the  Protestant  party  still  hesitated  to 
abandon  their  conciliatory  policy;  and  even  though  it 
was  thought  advisable  that  the  most  influential  gentlemen 
in  Angus  and  Mearns  should  assemble  in  Perth  to  ex- 
press their  sympathy  with  the  ministers  and  to  give  them 
their  moral  support,  it  was  prudently  resolved  that  they 
should  appear  unarmed,  and  that  the  Regent  should  be 
informed  that  their  intentions  went  no  further  than 
'  giving  confession  with  the  preachers.'  Intimidated  by 
this  peaceful  but  suggestive  demonstration,  Mary  thought 
it  wise  to  meet  the  '  fervency '  of  the  people  with  craft. 
Through  the  Laird  of  Dun,  who  had  been  sent  to  her, 
she  expressed  her  willingness  to  stay  the  trial  of  the 
ministers,  if  they  and  their  sympathisers  consented  to 
disperse  at  once.  When,  after  some  hesitation,  her 
terms  had  been  accepted,  instead  of  keeping  faith  with 
the  Protestants,  she  caused  the  preachers  to  be  put  to 
the  horn  for  not  having  appeared  in  Stirling  in  obedience 
to  the  summons,  and  all  men  to  be  forbidden  under  pain 
of  rebellion  to  assist,  comfort,  receive,  or  maintain  them 
in  any  sort. 

The  Queen-Regent's  duplicity  aroused  a  storm  of 
indignation  in  Perth,  where  it  became  known  within  a 
few  hours.  Next  day,  John  Knox,  who  had  but  lately 
returned  to  Scotland,  ascended  the  pulpit.  It  does  not 
appear  that  he  made  any  direct  reference  to  the  treachery 
of  which  Mary  had  been  guilty,  or  that  he  intended 
further  to  excite  the  resentment  of  the  people.  He 
inveighed  against  idolatry ;  set  forth  the  commandments 
given  by  God  for  the  destruction  of  everything  connected 
with  false  worship ;  and  denounced  the  Mass  as  an 
abomination  of  the  grossest  kind. 

It  is  a  very  striking  illustration  of  the  strange  con- 
fusion of  the  time,  that  this  discourse  was  delivered  in 


66  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

the  parish  church,  and  that  immediately  after  it,  and 
before  those  who  had  been  stirred  by  the  preacher's  fervid 
eloquence  had  retired,  a  priest  came  forward,  and  made 
preparation  for  the  performance  of  the  very  function 
against  which  Knox  had  directed  his  bitter  invectives. 
This  ill-timed  zeal,  or  imprudent  defiance,  called  forth 
an  indignant  protest  from  a  youth  who  was  near  the 
altar  at  the  moment.  'This  is  intolerable,'  he  cried, 
'that  when  God,  by  his  word,  hath  plainly  damned 
idolatry,  we  should  stand  and  see  it  used  in  despite.' 
The  rash  priest  replied  with  a  violent  blow.  Rushing 
out  of  the  church,  the  young  man  seized  a  heavy  stone, 
returned  to  the  altar,  and  flung  the  missile  with  all  his 
might  at  the  aggressor.  The  stone  missed  the  priest, 
but  struck  a  statue,  and  broke  it  to  pieces.  This  was 
the  signal  for  a  scene  of  uproar  and  violence.  In  a  few 
moments  the  church  was  wrecked,  and  the  mob  was  on 
its  way  to  the  other  religious  buildings  in  the  city.  The 
tumult  lasted  for  two  whole  days,  during  which  the 
monasteries  of  the  Blackfriars,  of  the  Greyfriars,  and  of 
the  Carthusians  were  so  completely  pillaged  and  de- 
stroyed, that  'the  walls  only  of  those  great  buildings 
remained.' 

Mary  of  Guise  vowed  to  be  avenged ;  and  marched 
against  Perth  with  a  powerful  body  of  troops.  But  the 
gentlemen  of  Fife,  Angus,  and  Mearns,  and  the  burgesses 
of  Dundee  were  assembling  to  meet  force  with  force; 
and  though,  at  first,  she  affected  to  despise  the  rebels,  the 
accession  to  their  number  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
men,  under  Glencairn,  induced  her  to  consent  to  negotia- 
tions. On  the  z8th  of  May,  a  truce  was  agreed  upon. 
The  conditions  were  that  '  no  inhabitants  of  the  town 
should  be  troubled  for  any  such  crimes  as  might  be 
alleged  against  them,  for  the  late  change  of  religion, 
abolishing  of  idolatry,  and  downcasting  of  the  places  of 
the  same ;  and  that  her  Grace  would  suffer  the  religion 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  67 

begun  to  go  forward,  and  leave  the  town  free  from  the 
garrisons  of  the  French  soldiers.' 

On  the  2  Qth  of  May,  the  '  Congregation '  departed  from 
Perth ;  and  on  the  same  day,  the  Queen-Regent,  the 
Duke  of  Chastelherault,  the  Earl  of  Athole,  and  several 
prelates,  together  with  d'Oysel  and  his  French  troops, 
entered  it.  From  the  very  first,  it  became  evident  that 
Mary  of  Guise  had  no  intention  of  allowing  the  con- 
ditions of  the  truce  to  interfere  with  her  policy.  Indeed, 
she  is  reported  to  have  said,  that  she  did  not  consider 
herself  bound  to  keep  her  promises  to  heretics.  As  for 
retaining  four  hundred  of  d'Oysel's  soldiers  as  a  garrison, 
she  justified  that  step  on  the  ground  that,  though  in  the 
French  service,  and  in  the  receipt  of  French  pay,  they 
were  Scotsmen. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  further  act  of  perfidy  was  to 
alienate  the  Earl  of  Argyle  and  Lord  James  Stuart.  As 
long  as  they  thought  that  the  Regent's  object  was  only 
the  restoration  of  order,  they  remained  on  her  side ;  but 
now,  judging  that  she  was  bent  on  doing  all  in  her  power 
to  suppress  the  Reformation,  they  departed  for  St  Andrews, 
where  the  '  Professors '  had  retired  after  leaving  Perth. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  took  any 
open  and  prominent  part  in  the  events  which  occurred 
in  the  early  months  of  1559.  But  there  is  evidence 
that  he  was  at  St  Andrews  in  the  beginning  of  June.  It 
was  there  that  John  Knox  first  proposed  to  him  that  they 
should  endeavour  to  obtain  assistance  from  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. 'If  England  would  but  see  her  own  advantage,' 
the  Reformer  said,  '  Yea,  if  she  would  consider  the 
dangers  wherein  she  is  standing  herself,  she  would  not 
suffer  us  to  perish  in  this  quarrel;  for  France  hath  de- 
creed no  less  the  conquest  of  England  than  of  Scotland.' 
As  the  result  of  their  'long  reasoning,'  it  was  resolved 
that  Kirkcaldy  should  open  negotiations  with  the  English. 

If,  as  Calderwood  states,  this  interview  did  not  take 


68  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

place  till  after  the  assembling  of  the  forces  of  the  Congre- 
gation on  Cupar  Moor,  on  the  i3th  of  June,  Kirkcaldy 
had  already,  on  his  own  responsibility,  communicated 
with  Elizabeth's  agent.  On  the  24th  of  May  he  had 
written  to  Sir  Henry  Percy,  informing  him  that  although 
the  Queen-Regent  of  Scotland  promised  she  would  be 
content  that  all  such  as  favoured  God's  Word  should  have 
liberty  to  live  after  their  own  conscience,  yet,  in  the  con- 
clusion of  the  peace  she  had  uttered  her  deceitful  mind, 
having  since  declared  that  she  would  be  an  enemy  to  all 
those  who  did  not  live  after  her  religion.  '  Therefore,  I 
pray  you,'  said  Sir  William,  '  let  me  understand  what  will 
be  your  mistress's  part  if  we  desire  to  be  joined  in  friend- 
ship with  her ;  for  I  assure  you  there  was  never  a  better 
time  to  get  our  friendship  than  at  this  time.  Therefore 
make  labours  and  lose  no  time  when  it  is  offered.' 

About  a  month  later,  on  the  23rd  of  June,  Kirkcaldy, 
who  by  this  time  had  returned  to  his  own  house,  wrote  to 
Cecil.  The  natural  love  which  he  bore  to  his  native 
country,  he  said,  and  the  unfeigned  desire  which  he  had 
long  cherished,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  whole  island 
might  be  united  in  perpetual  amity,  compelled  him  to 
declare  their  present  state,  and  to  require  of  him  counsel 
and  comfort  in  their  danger.  Twice  already,  he  informed 
Cecil,  had  the  Professors  of  God's  Word  shown  their 
faces  for  defence  of  their  brethren,  whose  blood  was 
sought  for  the  cause  of  religion;  and,  at  that  moment, 
they  were  in  the  field  for  the  deliverance  of  Perth,  which 
the  Queen  had  taken  and,  contrary  to  her  promises, 
garrisoned  with  her  troops.  Of  the  Catholic  party  in 
Scotland  itself,  there  was  no  cause,  he  believed,  to  be 
afraid ;  for  the  greater  part  of  the  nobility  and  com- 
monalty had  openly  defied  the  Pope;  but  the  Queen 
and  the  Papists  were  plotting  to  bring  in  a  French  army. 
If  this  should  happen,  it  was  the  desire  of  all  goodly  men 
to  know  what  support  they  might  look  for  from  England, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  69 

with  which  they  were  anxious  to  be  one  in  religion  and 
friendship.  The  number  of  these  was  already  great  and 
seemed  likely  to  increase  daily,  if  no  foreign  nation  inter- 
fered to  coerce  them ;  and  Cecil  was  warned  that,  if  he 
allowed  the  latter  contingency  to  take  place,  he  would  be 
preparing  a  way  for  his  own  destruction. 

Although  Percy's  answer  to  Kirkcaldy  has  not  been 
preserved,  it  appears  to  have  been  rather  an  inquiry  for 
direct  information  as  to  the  objects  which  the  leaders  of 
the  Congregation  really  had  in  view,  than  a  promise  to 
afford  the  help  so  earnestly  solicited.  It  drew  from 
Grange  a  further  communication,  written  on  the  ist  of 
July,  the  day  after  the  triumphant  entry  of  the  Protestant 
forces  into  Edinburgh,  and  containing  a  distinct  exposi- 
tion of  the  policy  of  his  party.  '  I  received  your  letter 
this  last  day  of  June,'  he  wrote,  '  perceiving  thereby  the 
doubt  and  suspicion  you  stand  in  for  the  coming  forward 
of  the  Congregation,  whom  I  assure  you,  you  need  not  to 
have  in  suspicion ;  for  they  mean  nothing  but  reformation 
of  religion,  which  shortly  throughout  the  realm  they  will 
bring  to  pass,  for  the  Queen  and  Monsieur  d'Oysel,  with 
all  the  Frenchmen,  for  refuge  are  retired  to  Dunbar. 
The  foresaid  Congregation  came  this  last  of  June,  by 
three  of  the  clock,  to  Edinburgh,  where  they  will  take 
order  for  the  maintenance  of  the  true  religion  and  resist- 
ing of  the  King  of  France,  if  he  sends  any  force  against 
them.  The  manner  of  their  proceeding  in  reformation 
is  this :  they  pull  down  all  manner  of  friaries,  and  some 
abbeys  which  willingly  receive  not  the  Reformation.  As 
to  parish  churches,  they  cleanse  them  of  images  and  all 
other  monuments  of  idolatry,  and  command  that  no 
masses  be  said  in  them  ;  in  place  thereof  the  Book  set 
forth  by  godly  King  Edward  is  read  in  the  said  churches. 
They  have  never  as  yet  meddled  with  a  pennyworth  of 
that  which  pertains  to  the  Church,  but  presently  they 
will  take  order  throughout  all  the  parts  where  they  dwell, 


70  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

that  all  the  fruits  of  the  abbeys  and  other  churches  shall 
be  kept  and  bestowed  upon  the  faithful  ministers,  until 
such  time  as  a  further  order  be  taken.  Some  suppose 
the  Queen,  seeing  no  other  remedy,  will  follow  their 
desires,  which  is  a  general  reformation  throughout  the 
whole  realm,  conform  to  the  pure  Word  of  God  ;  and  the 
Frenchmen  to  be  sent  away.  If  her  Grace  will  do  so, 
they  will  obey  her  and  serve  her,  and  annex  the  whole 
revenues  of  the  abbeys  to  the  Crown ;  if  her  Grace  will 
not  be  content  with  this,  they  are  determined  to  hear  of 
no  agreement.' 

In  the  minds  of  the  English  statesmen,  there  was  still 
some  doubt  as  to  the  position  taken  up  by  Kirkcaldy. 
They  remembered  that,  shortly  after  his  return  to  Scot- 
land, he  had  acted  as  the  Queen-Regent's  agent ;  and 
they  had  before  them  the  fact  that  he  had  not  yet  openly 
declared  himself  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  Congregation. 
Under  such  circumstances,  Cecil  thought  it  prudent  not 
to  write  directly  to  the  Laird  of  Grange,  whom,  as  yet, 
he  had  no  reason  for  treating  otherwise  than  'as  a 
private  man,  not  before  known  otherwise  to  them  but  as 
one  in  good  grace  with  the  Dowager.'  He  instructed  Sir 
Henry  Percy  to  obtain  an  interview  with  Sir  William,  to 
thank  him  privately  for  his  letter  and  the  sentiments  to 
which  it  gave  expression,  and  at  the  same  time,  to  tell 
him  that  the  English  Government  desired  to  be  more 
fully  informed  as  to  the  purposes  of  the  Earls  and  other 
Protestants ;  as  to  the  cause  they  meant  to  adopt ;  and 
as  to  the  means  at  their  disposal  for  the  accomplishment 
of  their  designs.  Above  all,  there  was  to  be  a  clear 
understanding  as  to  '  what  manner  of  amity  might  ensue 
between  the  two  realms,'  if  assistance  were  sent  from 
England,  'and  how  the  same  might  be  hoped  to  be 
perpetuated,  and  not  to  be  so  slender  as  heretofore,  with 
other  assurance  of  continuance  than  from  time  to  time 
had  pleased  France.'  Lest  Kirkcaldy  should  think  that 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  71 

Cecil's  unwillingness  to  negotiate  directly  with  him 
arose  from  any  doubt  as  to  his  good  faith  and  honesty, 
Percy  was  further  commissioned  to  tell  him  that  all 
promises  communicated  through  the  English  agent  would 
be  considered  just  as  binding  as  though  they  had  been 
made  immediately  to  himself.  Considering,  however,  the 
very  guarded  nature  of  the  answer  which  Sir  Henry  was 
to  make  to  the  Scottish  Laird's  advances,  the  assurance 
thus  given  did  not  commit  the  English  minister  too  much. 

As  soon  as  Kirkcaldy  learnt  from  Percy  the  reasons  put 
forward  by  Cecil  in  explanation  of  his  cautious  hesita- 
tion, he  at  once  promised  to  supply,  within  a  few  days, 
the  information  required  by  the  English  statesman  with 
regard  both  to  the  'foundation*  on  which  the  Protestants 
meant  to  work,  and  the  '  amity '  they  were  ready  to  offer. 
He  further  undertook  to  get  himself  duly  acknowledged 
'  under  the  hands  of  some  of  the  nobility.' 

Although  less  than  a  week  elapsed  between  Kirkcaldy's 
interview  with  Percy  and  Crofts  and  the  formal  recogni- 
tion of  his  negotiations  by  the  Lords  of  the  Congregation, 
the  delay  appears  to  have  suggested  fresh  doubts,  and 
possibly  suspicions,  to  the  minds  of  the  English  agents. 
On  the  2oth  of  July,  Crofts  wrote  from  Berwick,  inform- 
ing Cecil  that  Grange,  though  expected  the  day  before, 
had  not  yet  arrived,  and  suggesting  reasons  for  the  delay. 

'  Kirkcaldy,'  he  wrote,  '  has  not  yet  discovered  himself 
plainly  to  be  of  the  Protestant  party,  nor  does  he  come 
to  the  Queen-Regent,  but  feigns  himself  sick.  Money 
is  owing  him  for  serving  in  the  late  wars,  in  hope  whereof 
he  drives  time.  The  man  is  poor  and  cannot  travail 
in  these  matters  without  charges,  wherein  he  must  be 
relieved  by  the  Queen,  if  these  proceedings  go  forward, 
and  so  must  as  many  as  be  principal  doers  have  relief. 
They  all  be  poor,  and  necessity  will  force  them  to  leave 
off  when  all  they  have  is  spent,  and  you  know,  in  all 
practices,  money  must  be  one  part.' 


72  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

A  few  days  later,  however,  on  the  26th  of  the  month, 
the  same  writer  was  able  to  announce  that  Kirk- 
caldy  had  now  'declared  himself  plainly,'  and  was  with 
the  Protestants.  That  pecuniary  considerations,  even  if 
they  had  influenced  him  at  all,  as  Crofts  had  previously 
stated,  had  not  been  allowed  to  deter  him  from  the 
course  of  action  which  his  conscience  pointed  out  to 
him,  was  proved  by  the  fact  that,  as  Crofts  himself 
acknowledged,  in  a  later  communication,  his  declaration 
cost  him  fifteen  or  sixteen  months'  pay,  which  he  should 
have  received  from  France. 

Kirkcaldy's  object  and  ambition  had  been  the  formation 
of  a  Protestant  alliance,  and  he  had  fervently  declared 
that  all  Europe  should  know  that  a  league,  in  the  name 
of  God,  had  another  foundation  and  assurance  than 
factions  made  by  man  for  worldly  commodity.  But  the 
result  of  his  negotiations  fell  very  far  short  of  his  sanguine 
hopes.  He  was  obliged  to  be  content  for  the  time  with 
a  vague  promise  of  assistance. 


VII.    HARASSING  THE  FRENCH 

WHILST  the  heads  of  the  Protestant  party  were  correspond- 
ing with  England,  the  Queen-Regent,  on  her  side,  had 
also  been  preparing  for  the  struggle  which  she  was  now 
determined  to  force  on,  though  in  order  to  gain  time, 
she  had  not  discouraged  the  negotiations  entered  upon 
with  a  view  to  a  peaceable  settlement.  In  answer  to 
her  appeals  for  assistance,  the  French  Court  sent  her  a 
body  of  troops,  to  oppose  the  forces  which  the  Lords  of 
the  Congregation  were  raising.  About  the  middle  of 
August  1559,  a  thousand  men,  under  the  command  of  an 
officer  named  Octavian,  landed  at  Leith,  which  they  at 
once  began  to  fortify.  Protests  and  proclamations  on 
the  part  of  the  Lords  having  failed  to  prevent  the 
operations  of  the  French  from  being  actively  carried 
on,  under  the  eyes  of  the  Regent  herself,  Leith  was 
invested  by  the  forces  of  the  Congregation. 

Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  was  one  of  the  military  leaders 
on  whose  skill  and  experience  the  party  mainly  relied. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  to  determine  with  what  official 
rank  he  was  invested ;  but  there  is  not  wanting  evidence 
to  show  that,  whether  by  actual  appointment,  or  by  virtue 
of  his  zeal  and  of  his  valour,  he  stood  in  a  position  of 
considerable  importance.  When  Maitland  of  Lethington, 
Secretary  to  the  Queen-Regent,  '  perceiving  himself  to  be 
suspected  as  one  that  favoured  the  Congregation,  and  to 
stand  in  danger  of  his  life  if  he  should  remain  at  Leith, 
because  he  spared  not  to  utter  his  mind  in  controversies 
of  religion,'  determined  to  join  the  Protestant  party,  it 
was  to  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  that  he  surrendered.  Such 

73 


74  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

indeed,  was  his  recognised  influence  with  his  associates, 
that,  as  Throckmorton  informed  Cecil,  the  Regent 
'weighed  him  more  than  a  great  many  of  the  rest,' 
and  made  strenuous,  but  vain  efforts  to  gain  him  over 
to  her  side. 

Of  Sir  William's  personal  exploits,  the  records  are  only 
casual  and  incidental ;  but  they  invariably  bear  testimony 
to  the  dashing  courage  which  had  won  distinction  for  him 
in  foreign  wars.  It  was  conspicuously  displayed  in  one 
of  the  most  important  engagements  between  the  opposing 
forces.  On  the  5th  of  November,  a  body  of  French 
troops  was  sent  from  Leith  to  intercept  a  convoy  of 
provisions  intended  for  Edinburgh.  Arran  and  Lord 
James,  being  'more  forward  than  circumspect'  in  their 
attempt  to  drive  them  back,  allowed  themselves  to  be 
hemmed  in,  and  forced  into  a  'very  narrow  corner,'  be- 
tween the  low-lying  swamp  near  Restalrig,  and  the  wall 
that  enclosed  the  park  of  Holyrood.  But  for  the  Laird 
of  Grange  and  Alexander  Whitelaw,  who  rode  up  at  the 
head  of  a  few  horsemen,  and  who  succeeded  in  keeping 
the  enemy  in  check  for  a  time,  the  whole  escort  would 
have  been  surrounded,  and  either  killed  or  taken.  Even 
as  it  was,  the  loss  was  serious;  and,  together  with  the 
capture  of  the  expected  provisions,  led  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  Edinburgh,  which  was  at  once  occupied  by  the 
French.  Kirkcaldy,  who  had  been  in  the  front  of  the 
fight,  was  in  the  rear  of  the  retreat ;  and,  according  to 
Killegrew's  report  of  the  event  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  he 
only  '  very  narrowly  escaped  over  the  walls.' 

Another  of  Kirkcaldy's  sallies  from  the  camp  before 
Leith  is  narrated  in  a  dispatch  to  Cecil  by  Sir  Henry 
Percy,  who  also  took  part  in  it — for  this  was  in  April 
1560;  and  by  that  time  Elizabeth  had  at  length  sent  a 
small  contingent  of  troops  to  reinforce  the  army  of  the 
Congregation.  Dunbar  being  but  a  short  distance  from 
Leith,  and  on  the  highroad  to  Berwick,  it  frequently  hap- 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  75 

pened  that  messengers  and  straggling  parties,  on  their  way 
from  the  camp  to  the  English  Border,  were  intercepted 
by  pickets  from  the  garrison.  To  check  this,  and  to  teach 
the  French  caution,  Lord  Grey  and  Sir  William  devised  a 
stratagem.  The  latter,  with  Sir  Henry  Percy  and  three 
hundred  troopers,  left  the  camp  at  dead  of  night  and  took 
up  a  carefully  chosen  position,  about  half  a  mile  from 
Dunbar.  Next  morning,  at  nine  o'clock,  when  there  was 
every  probability  of  detection,  a  detachment  of  a  dozen 
men  was  sent  forward  as  though  for  the  purpose  of  riding 
to  Berwick.  As  soon  as  they  were  perceived,  Captain 
Hayes,  with  an  equal  number  of  cavalry,  started  in  pur- 
suit, whilst  Captain  Perrot,  at  the  head  of  fifty  footmen, 
also  marched  out  so  as  to  be  at  hand  to  reinforce  him, 
if  necessary.  Feigning  to  be  taken  at  unawares,  the 
decoys  turned  and  made  for  the  camp,  managing  their 
flight  in  such  a  manner  as  to  lead  the  pursuers  into  the 
ambush.  Grange  made  no  attempt  to  meet  the  enemy ; 
but  as  soon  as  they  had  all  passed  by,  he  rode  out  with 
his  three  hundred  men,  and  cut  off  their  retreat.  Charg- 
ing the  French  before  they  had  time  fully  to  realise  their 
position,  he  overwhelmed  them  and  took  most  of  the 
footmen  prisoners.  The  cavalry  were  able  to  take  refuge 
in  the  neighbouring  mansion  of  Innerwick,  but  a  very 
brief  siege  obliged  them  to  surrender  also  ;  and  Kirkcaldy 
returned  to  the  camp  after  having  killed  thirteen  of  the 
enemy  and  captured  forty-five,  including  the  two  leaders, 
Hayes  and  Perrot,  and  without  having  suffered  any  loss 
himself. 

On  the-  eve  of  the  last  but  still  unsuccessful  assault 
made  against  Leith,  on  the  yth  of  May  1560,  by  the 
combined  forces  of  the  Congregation  and  of  England,  it 
was  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  who,  with  Sir  Ralph  Sadler 
and  Crofts,  went  forward  to  examine  the  breach  which 
the  besieging  artillery  had  made  in  the  works.  Had  his 
advice  been  followed,  the  next  day's  failure  would  have 


76  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

been  avoided,  for  he  reported  that  the  attack  ought  not 
yet  to  be  made.  But,  either  owing  to  a  misunderstanding 
or,  as  was  commonly  reported  subsequently,  to  treason  on 
the  part  of  Crofts,  who  was  instructed  to  communicate 
Kirkcaldy's  opinion  to  Grey,  the  assault  took  place,  and 
was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss  to  the  besiegers. 

Whilst  the  siege  of  Leith  was  going  on,  the  skirmishing 
was  not  confined  to  the  southern  side  of  the  Forth. 
Crossing  to  the  other  shore,  the  French  established 
themselves  at  Kinghorn  and,  sallying  forth,  laid  waste 
all  the  adjoining  country,  sparing  neither  Papist  nor 
Protestant,  and  even  pillaging  the  estates  of  their  own 
confederates.  Amongst  the  chief  sufferers  from  their 
depredations  and  wanton  destruction  of  property,  was 
Sir  William  Kirkcaldy,  whose  house  was  deliberately 
blown  up.  Next  day  he  sent  a  characteristic  message 
to  the  French  leader,  d'Oysel.  He  told  him  that,  up  to 
that  hour,  he  had  acted  considerately  towards  the  French, 
and  saved  their  lives  when  he  might  have  allowed  their 
throats  to  be  cut.  But  he  warned  him  not  to  expect 
such  treatment  for  the  future.  '  As  for  Monsieur  d'Oysel,' 
reports  the  chronicler,  '  he  bade  say  to  him,  he  knew  he 
would  not  get  him  to  skirmish  with,  because  he  knew  he 
was  but  a  coward.  But  it  might  be  he  should  requite 
him  in  full,  either  in  Scotland  or  in  France.' 

The  French  soon  learnt  to  their  cost  that  Kirkcaldy 
had  not  been  indulging  in  mere  braggart  threats.  At  the 
head  of  a  thousand  horse,  and  accompanied  by  the  Master 
of  Sinclair,  he  lay  in  wait  for  them  day  and  night,  and 
made  it  unsafe  for  them  to  venture  out  of  Kinghorn 
except  in  large  bodies.  One  of  his  exploits  was  the 
capture  of  three  ships,  laden  with  victuals,  and  the 
slaughter  of  some  sixty  Frenchmen  that  were  on  board. 
Another,  of  which  the  details  have  been  recorded,  resulted 
in  the  death  of  the  French  Captain,  L'Abast,  and  of 
forty  or  fifty  of  his  men.  L'Abast  having  sallied  out  from 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  77 

Kinghorn,  was  plundering  as  usual,  sparing  '  neither  sheep, 
oxen,  kye,  nor  horse.'  When  he  and  his  men  got  suffi- 
ciently far  inland  to  make  it  impossible  for  reinforcements 
to  come  to  them  from  the  main  body,  Grange,  who  had 
been  following  their  movements,  charged  down  upon  them 
with  a  company  of  his  horsemen.  The  French  beat  a 
hasty  retreat  as  far  as  Glennis  House,  into  which  they 
threw  themselves.  Whilst  some  occupied  the  mansion, 
others  took  up  their  position  within  the  courtyard.  The 
assailants  were  at  considerable  disadvantage,  for  they  were 
armed  with  spears  only  ;  and  their  horses  were  useless  to 
them  in  an  attack  against  men  posted  behind  stone  walls. 
The  French,  on  the  contrary,  all  had  arquebuses.  Un- 
deterred by  the  odds  against  him,  Kirkcaldy  ordered  his 
men  to  dismount,  and  led  them  to  the  assault.  As  they 
advanced,  they  were  met  with  a  sharp  fire  that  injured 
several  of  them,  amongst  others,  Sir  William's  brother, 
David.  There  was  one  critical  moment  of  hesitation, 
which  would  probably  have  been  followed  by  a  disordered 
and  disastrous  retreat  but  for  the  courage  of  the  Scottish 
leader.  '  Fie ! '  he  cried  to  his  men,  '  Let  us  never  live 
after  this  day,  if  it  is  to  be  said  we  recoiled  before  French 
skybalds ! '  Then,  rushing  forward  with  the  Master  of 
Sinclair,  and  followed  by  others  whom  his  words  had 
roused,  he  succeeded  in  forcing  his  way  into  the  court- 
yard. The  death  of  L'Abast,  who,  though  borne  down 
by  the  impetuous  inrush,  refused  to  ask  for  quarter,  threw 
the  French  into  confusion.  Few  of  those  outside  the 
house  escaped  the  fierce  slaughter  that  followed ;  whilst 
those  within  it  were  glad  to  surrender  at  discretion 
From  that  day,  as  the  chronicler  drily  remarks,  '  the 
French  were  more  circumspect  in  straying  abroad.' 

At  Tullybodie,  too,  there  was  some  sharp  fighting  for 
the  possession  of  the  bridge.  But,  though  Kirkcaldy 
succeeded  in  cutting  it  down,  the  check  to  the  advance 
of  the  French  was  only  temporary.  They  retired  to 


78  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Doune,  where  they  crossed  the  river  by  means  of  a 
bridge,  which  they  built  of  timber  torn  from  the  roof 
of  the  parish  church. 

Kirkcaldy  and  Sinclair  did  not  carry  on  this  harassing 
mode  of  warfare  without  considerable  danger  to  them- 
selves. On  one  occasion  the  Master  had  his  horse  slain 
under  him,  and  barely  got  off  with  his  life.  On  another, 
Grange  was  nearly  captured  in  his  own  house  at 
Halyards.  Referring  to  these  narrow  escapes,  Maitland 
of  Lethington  bears  testimony  to  the  estimation  in  which 
the  two  dashing  leaders  were  held,  and  to  the  value  set  on 
their  services  by  the  Lords  of  the  Congregation.  '  If  at 
this  time  they  should  have  lost  the  said  two  men,'  he 
wrote,  '  it  would  have  been  to  them  more  hurt  than  to  the 
Frenchmen  to  have  lost  a  thousand  soldiers;  it  would 
have  been  more  skaith  than  to  have  had  all  the  French- 
men in  Scotland  slain.'  John  Knox,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs 
Anna  Locke,  also  makes  admiring  and  grateful  mention 
of  Kirkcaldy's  achievements.  '  God  will  recompense  him 
I  doubt  not,'  he  says ;  '  for  in  this  cause  and  since  the 
beginning  of  this  last  trouble  specially,  he  hath  behaved 
himself  so  boldly,  as  never  man  of  our  nation  hath 
deserved  more  praise.  He  hath  been  in  many  dangers, 
and  yet  God  hath  delivered  him  above  man's  expectation. 
He  was  shot  at  Lundie,  right  under  the  left  pap,  through 
the  jack,  doublet,  and  sark,  and  the  bullet  did  sticke  in 
one  of  his  ribs.  Mr  Whitelaw  hath  gotten  a  fall,  by  the 
which  he  is  unable  to  bear  armour.  But,  God  be  praised, 
both  their  lives  be  saved.' 

Whether  Kirkcaldy  was  actually  wounded,  however, 
seems  rather  doubtful.  That,  if  he  was,  his  hurt  can- 
not have  been  serious,  may  be  gathered,  not  only  from 
the  fact  that  no  interruption  of  his  activity  at  this  time  is 
recorded,  but  also  from  the  following  passage,  which 
occurs  in  one  of  Sadler's  letters  to  Crofts :  '  Kirkcaldy 
hath  no  such  hurt  as  we  wrote  of,  which  arose  of  another 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  79 

Scottishman  that  was  indeed  hurt  in  the  same  sort  as  we 
did  write ;  and  before  that  Kirkcaldy  slew  a  Frenchman, 
whereby  the  Protestants  had  the  first  blood,  which  they 
do  take  for  good  luck.' 

By  the  beginning  of  1560,  both  contending  parties 
had  grown  tired  of  the  desultory,  and  practically  useless 
fighting  which  had  now  been  going  on  for  months. 
Negotiations  had  again  been  entered  upon  with  a  view 
to  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  when,  on  the  loth  of  June, 
the  death  of  the  Queen-Regent  took  place.  Although 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  this  time  she  was  really 
sincere  in  her  wish  for  peace,  it  is  probable  that  her 
demise  accelerated  rather  than  retarded  the  conclusion 
of  the  treaty.  That  it  secured  for  the  Protestant  party 
more  favourable  terms  than  she  herself  would  readily 
have  granted,  scarcely  admits  of  a  doubt 


VIII.    AT  CARBERRY 

THE  cessation  of  hostilities,  and  the  departure  from 
Scotland  of  the  French  and  English  contingents  which 
had  helped  to  carry  on  the  war,  inaugurated  a  period  of 
comparative  rest  and  tranquillity  in  Sir  William's  adven- 
turous life.  During  the  next  four  years  there  is  but  rare 
and  incidental  reference  to  him  in  the  correspondence 
of  the  time.  A  letter  from  Randolph  to  Maitland  states 
that  Grange  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  a  small  force  sent 
into  Renfrewshire  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  re- 
bellious Master  of  Semple  to  subjection.  The  only 
notable  feature  of  this  very  unimportant  expedition  was 
the  difficulty  experienced  in  bringing  the  artillery  to  bear 
on  Castle  Semple,  which  was  situated  in  a  small  lake. 
It  took  seven  days  to  get  the  guns  into  position.  Twenty- 
four  hours  later  Semple  capitulated. 

Another  letter  from  the  same  source  shows  that  Kirk- 
caldy's  friendly  relations  with  the  English  Court  were  still 
maintained.  It  informs  Cecil  that  when  the  agent  wished 
to  take  special  means  for  the  safe  delivery  of  his  dispatches 
to  the  Government,  he  availed  himself  of  the  services  of 
the  Laird's  retainers.  The  young  Queen  of  Scots,  on 
the  other  hand,  in  spite  of  her  dying  mother's  injunctions 
to  secure  the  good-will  of  'Kirkcaldy  of  Grange,  whom 
the  Constable  de  Montmorency  had  named  the  first 
soldier  in  Europe,'  still  looked  with  suspicion  on  the 
man  who  had  so  largely  contributed  to  the  success  of  the 
Reformers.  Indeed,  her  objection  to  him  was  expressed 
with  sufficient  plainness  to  attract  the  attention  of  Throck- 
morton,  who  was  '  nothing  sorry '  for  it,  and  who  did  not 

So 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  81 

think  the  circumstance  too  insignificant  to  be  communi- 
cated to  Elizabeth. 

Closer  acquaintance  with  the  gallant  soldier,  however, 
appears  to  have  altered  Mary  Stuart's  opinion  of  him  after 
her  return  to  Scotland.  In  1562,  when  she  undertook 
an  expedition  to  the  North,  against  the  Earl  of  Huntly, 
he  was  one  of  the  leaders  whom  she  appointed  to  serve 
under  Lord  James,  the  commander  of  her  forces.  A  few 
days  later,  he  was  at  Strathbogie,  at  the  head  of  a  body 
of  horsemen  sent  to  apprehend  the  Earl.  His  progress 
had  been  so  rapid,  that  Huntly  was  taken  by  surprise, 
and  only  narrowly  avoided  capture.  'Without  boot  or 
sword  he  conveyed  himself  out  at  a  back  gate,  over  a  low 
wall,  where  he  took  his  horse.'  Being  better  acquainted 
with  the  country,  and  better  mounted  than  his  pursuers, 
who  had  already  ridden  twenty-four  miles  that  morning, 
he  succeeded  in  making  good  his  escape,  but  only  to  fall 
at  the  battle  of  Corrichie.  It  was,  doubtless,  as  a  reward 
for  Kirkcaldy's  services  during  this  expedition  that  the 
act  of  attainder  passed  against  him  and  his  family,  for  the 
murder  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  was  reversed  by  Parliament 
in  the  following  year.  His  lands  were  also  restored  to 
him  a  few  months  later. 

In  the  year  1564,  the  project  of  a  marriage  between 
Mary  Stuart  and  Darnley  again  roused  dissatisfaction 
amongst  the  Protestant  leaders.  The  matter  was  one  with 
regard  to  which  Kirkcaldy  was  not  likely  to  remain 
indifferent;  and  a  letter  written  to  Randolph,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  September,  shows  that  he  had  already 
entered  into  negotiations  with  the  English  Court,  for  the 
purpose  of  offering  the  support  and  co-operation  of  his 
party  to  Elizabeth,  who  was  known  to  look  upon  the 
intended  marriage  with  great  disfavour.  As  might  have 
been  expected  from  this  preliminary  and  early  step,  the 
Laird  of  Grange  was  amongst  those  who,  with  Lord  James 
at  their  head,  openly  expressed  their  disapproval  of 


8z  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Darnley,  as  one  more  than  suspected  of  being  ready  to 
adopt  and  forward  Mary's  views  in  favour  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  and  who  consequently  disobeyed  the  Queen's 
commands  to  come  to  Edinburgh,  '  Weill  bodin  in  feir  of 
weir,  furneist  to  remaine  the  space  of  fifteen  dayis  efter 
thair  cuming,  for  attending  and  away  ting  upon  her  Hienes.' 
Although  no  record  exists  of  his  individual  action, 
testimony  is  borne  to  the  importance  which  Mary  and  her 
Council  attached  to  it,  by  a  proclamation  issued  on  the 
2nd  of  August  1565,  only  four  days  after  the  celebration 
of  the  obnoxious  marriage.  It  commanded  Andrew, 
Earl  of  Rothes,  and  William  Kirkcaldy  of  Grange  to  enter 
themselves  prisoners  within  the  Castle  of  Dumbarton. 
On  the  1 4th  of  the  same  month,  Kirkcaldy  was  denounced 
as  a  rebel,  and  charged,  under  pains  of  treason,  to  deliver 
up  the  fortalice  of  Halyards.  Next  day  a  proclamation, 
setting  forth  that  the  Earls  of  Murray  and  Rothes,  Grange, 
and  Provost  Haliburton,  were  riding  and  going  about  the 
Realm  where  they  pleased,  and  were  being  entertained  as 
if  they  were  good  and  true  subjects,  forbade  the  lieges  to 
supply  those  rebels  with  meat,  drink,  munition,  or  armour. 
Another  of  the  numerous  proclamations  issued  at  this 
time — its  exact  date  is  the  24th  of  August — gave  com- 
mission to  the  Earl  of  Athole  to  pursue  them  with  fire 
and  sword.  This  was  on  the  eve  of  the  Queen's  departure 
from  Edinburgh,  at  the  head  of  five  thousand  men,  to 
take  part  in  what  is  known  as  the  Round  About  Raid. 

The  ill-advised  and  ill-managed  rising  afforded  Grange 
no  opportunity  of  distinguishing  himself  or  even  of  doing 
justice  to  the  reputation  which  he  had  already  acquired.  He 
hurried  with  the  rest  of  his  party  from  Paisley  to  Hamilton, 
from  Hamilton  to  Edinburgh,  then  back  again,  through 
Lanark  to  Hamilton  and  thence  to  Dumfries.  There  the 
insignificant  force  of  some  thirteen  hundred  horsemen 
was  disbanded;  and  Kirkcaldy,  with  a  number  of  the 
leaders,  sought  safety  across  the  Border. 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  83 

From  letters  written  by  Bedford  immediately  after  these 
events,  it  seems  justifiable  to  conclude  that  he,  at  least, 
attributed  the  failure  of  the  Protestant  rising  to  neglect  of 
the  advice  given  by  Kirkcaldy.  Not  only  does  he  speak 
of  him  in  special  terms  of  praise,  which  would  have  been 
quite  out  of  place  if  he  had  done  no  more  than  flee 
before  the  Queen,  and  style  him  '  as  able  a  man  in  war 
or  peace  as  any  in  Scotland  or  France;'  but  he  also 
particularly  'bemoans'  his  fate  and  significantly  adds 
that  he  will  not  speak  of  'what  services  Grange  might 
have  done.' 

As  early  as  the  beginning  of  January  1566,  steps  were 
being  taken  to  procure  an  amnesty  in  favour  of  Sir  William 
Kirkcaldy,  and  to  enable  him  to  return  to  Scotland.  They 
were  not  successful,  however,  and  two  months  later  he 
was  still  in  England,  and  according  to  a  communication 
made  by  Bedford  and  Randolph  to  Cecil,  was  one  of 
those  who  were  privy  to  the  plot  for  the  assassination  of 
David  Rizzio.  That  he  knew  of  it  can  scarcely  be 
doubted.  It  may  even  be  admitted  that  he  entertained 
no  special  scruples  with  regard  to  the  removal  of  an 
officious  and  obnoxious  foreigner,  whose  influence  on  the 
Queen  was  being  exercised  to  prevent  her  receiving  the 
exiles  into  favour,  and  whom  it  was,  moreover,  originally 
intended  to  bring  to  trial,  not,  it  is  true,  in  a  formal  and 
legal  manner,  but  with  some  sort  of  judicial  proceeding 
sufficient  to  make  his  death  appear  an  execution  rather 
than  a  brutal  murder.  But  there  is  no  evidence  to 
prove  that  his  complicity  went  any  further ;  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  noteworthy  that  his  name  does  not  appear 
in  the  list  of  'such  as  were  consenting  to  the  death  of 
Davy,'  forwarded  to  Cecil  within  a  fortnight  after  the 
occurrence.  Nor  can  this  omission  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  Grange  was  known  not  to  have  returned  to 
Edinburgh,  with  Murray  and  his  company,  till  twenty-four 
hours  after  the  murder.  Knox  has  never  been  accused  of 


84  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

being  actually  present  at  the  grim  tragedy  either,  and  yet 
his  name  figures  on  the  black  roll.  Finally,  it  is  not  un- 
important to  note  that  as  early  as  the  4th  of  April,  less 
than  a  month  after  the  assassination  of  Rizzio,  Bedford 
was  able  to  announce  to  Cecil  that  the  Laird  of  Grange 
was  now  restored  to  favour.  If  that  did  not  refer  to  the  re- 
mission of  the  pains  and  penalties  he  had  incurred  through 
his  connection  with  the  Round  About  Raid,  it  may  be 
taken  as  evidence  that  his  complicity  with  the  murderers 
of  the  Secretary  was  not  thought  to  be  very  direct. 

Not  many  months  elapsed  before  events  far  more 
startling  and  far  more  momentous  in  their  results  again 
called  upon  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  to  play  a  prominent 
part  both  as  a  politician  and  as  a  soldier.  On  the 
loth  of  February  1566,  Darnley  was  murdered  under 
circumstances  which  led  many  to  believe  not  only  that 
Bothwell  was  the  murderer,  but  that  Mary  was  his 
accomplice.  Such  was  the  view  adopted  by  the  Laird 
of  Grange.  When  the  mock  trial  of  the  Earl  convinced 
him  that  the  law  of  the  land  was  powerless  to  inflict 
punishment  on  the  perpetrator  of  the  foul  deed ;  and 
when,  in  addition  to  this,  the  subservience  of  five  and 
twenty  bishops,  earls,  and  barons,  who  affixed  their 
signatures  to  the  notorious  Ainslie  Bond,  showed  him 
that  a  union  with  Mary  would  probably  be  the  un- 
scrupulous adventurer's  next  step,  he  made  an  earnest 
appeal  for  help  from  England.  '  It  may  please  your 
Lordship  to  let  me  understand,'  he  wrote  to  Cecil,  'what 
will  be  your  sovereign's  part  concerning  the  late  murder 
committed  among  us ;  for  albeit  her  Majesty  was  slow  in 
all  our  last  troubles,  and  therefore  lost  that  favour  we  did 
bear  unto  her,  yet  nevertheless,  if  her  Majesty  will  pursue 
for  the  revenge  of  the  late  murder,  I  dare  assure  your 
Lordship  she  shall  win  thereby  all  the  hearts  of  all  the 
best  in  Scotland  again.  Further,  if  we  understand  that 
her  Majesty  would  assist  us  and  favour  us,  we  should  not 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  85 

be  long  in  revenging  of  this  murder.  The  Queen  caused 
ratify  in  Parliament  the  cleansing  of  Bothwell.  She  intends 
to  take  the  Prince  out  of  the  Earl  of  Mar's  hands,  and 
put  him  into  BothwelPs  keeping,  who  murdered  the  King, 
his  father.  The  same  night  the  Parliament  was  dissolved, 
Bothwell  called  the  most  part  of  the  noblemen  to  supper, 
for  to  desire  of  them  their  promise  in  writing  and  consent 
for  the  Queen's  marriage,  which  he  will  obtain ;  for  she 
has  said  that  she  cares  not  to  lose  France,  England,  and 
her  own  country  for  him,  and  shall  go  with  him  to  the 
world's  end  in  a  white  petticoat  ere  she  leave  him.  Yea, 
she  is  so  far  past  all  shame,  that  she  has  caused  make  an 
act  of  Parliament  against  all  those  that  shall  set  up  any 
writing  that  shall  speak  anything  of  him.  Whatever  is 
unhonest  reigns  presently  in  this  court.  God  deliver  them 
from  their  evil ! ' 

Before  any  answer  could  be  returned  to  Sir  William, 
his  worst  anticipations  had  been  verified.  With  or  with- 
out her  consent,  Mary  had  been  carried  off  by  Bothwell. 
Two  days  later  another  letter  was  sent  from  the  Grange 
to  the  English  agent  in  Berwick.  It  ran  as  follows  :  'The 
Queen  will  never  cease  till  she  has  wrecked  all  the  honest 
men  of  this  realm.  She  was  minded  to  cause  Bothwell 
ravish  her,  to  the  end  that  she  may  the  sooner  end  the 
marriage  which  she  promised  before  she  caused  murder 
her  husband.  There  is  many  that  would  revenge  the 
murder,  but  that  they  fear  your  mistress.  I  am  so  suited 
to,  for  to  enterprise  the  revenge,  that  I  must  either  take 
it  upon  hand  or  else  leave  the  country,  which  I  am  deter- 
mined to  do,  if  I  can  obtain  license ;  but  Bothwell  is 
minded  to  cut  me  off  ere  I  obtain  it.  The  Queen  minds 
hereafter  to  take  the  Prince  out  of  the  Earl  of  Mar's 
hands,  and  put  him  in  his  hands  that  murdered  his  father. 
I  pray  your  Lordship  let  me  know  what  your  mistress  will 
do,  for  if  we  seek  France  we  may  find  favour  at  their 
hands,  but  I  would  rather  persuade  to  lean  to  England.' 


86  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

That  Kirkcaldy's  determination  to  go  abroad  was  not 
merely  empty  and  exaggerated  talk  was  proved  by  the  two 
plain  facts  reported  by  Sir  William  Drury — that  Grange 
had  sold  all  his  corn  and  moveables,  and  that  he  had 
obtained  a  license  to  leave  Scotland  for  seven  years.  It 
might  have  been  well  for  him  if  his  purpose  had  been 
carried  out ;  but  events  shaped  his  conduct  differently. 

Sir  William's  communications  were  duly  forwarded  to 
Elizabeth.  The  tone  adopted  by  a  subject  in  writing  of 
his  sovereign  was  highly  displeasing  to  the  English  Queen, 
and  shocked  her  exalted  notions  of  regal  dignity  and 
prerogative.  She  consequently  vouchsafed  no  reply  to 
them  ;  but  she  took  occasion  to  express  her  indignation  to 
Randolph,  who  thus  reports  to  Leicester  the  substance  of 
her  remarks  to  him  on  the  subject  of  Kirkcaldy's  plainly- 
worded  arraignment  of  Mary's  conduct :  '  Her  Majesty 
also  told  me  that  she  had  seen  a  writing  sent  from  Grange 
to  my  Lord  of  Bedford,  despitefully  written  against  that 
Queen,  in  such  vile  terms  as  she  could  not  abide  the  hear- 
ing of  it,  wherein  he  made  her  worse  than  any  common 
woman.  She  would  not  that  any  subject,  what  cause 
soever  there  be  proceeding  from  the  prince,  or  whatsoever 
her  life  and  behaviour  is,  should  discover  that  unto  the 
world;  and  thereof  so  utterly  misliketh  of  Grange's  manner 
of  writing  and  doing,  that  she  condemns  him  for  one  of  the 
worst  in  that  realm,  seeming  somewhat  to  warn  me  of  my 
familiarity  with  him,  and  willing  that  I  should  admonish 
him  of  her  misliking.  In  this  manner  of  talk  it  pleased 
her  Majesty  to  retain  me  almost  an  hour.' 

In  the  meantime,  discontent  at  the  Queen's  treatment 
of  Bothwell  had  been  spreading  through  the  country,  and 
was  gradually  assuming  the  tangible  shape  of  a  coalition 
having  for  its  avowed  object  the  punishment  of  Darnley's 
murderers.  The  leading  men  of  the  movement  were 
Argyle,  Athole,  and  Morton.  They  made  Stirling  their 
headquarters ;  and  it  was  there  the  Laird  of  Grange  joined 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  87 

them  in  the  early  days  of  May.  On  the  eighth  of  that 
month  he  again  wrote  to  Bedford,  no  longer  as  a  private 
individual,  but  with  the  authorisation,  and  in  the  name  of 
the  confederate  Lords.  'All  such  things  as  were  done 
before  the  Parliament,  I  did  write  unto  your  Lordship  at 
large,'  said  he.  'At  that  time  the  most  part  of  the  nobility, 
for  fear  of  their  lives,  did  grant  to  sundry  things,  both 
against  their  honours  and  consciences,  who  since  have 
convened  themselves  at  Stirling,  where  they  have  made  a 
"  band  "  to  defend  each  other  in  all  things  that  shall  con- 
cern the  glory  of  God  and  commonweal  of  their  country. 
The  heads  that  presently  they  agreed  upon  is,  first,  to  seek 
the  liberty  of  the  Queen,  who  is  ravished  and  detained 
by  the  Earl  of  Bothwell,  who  was  the  ravisher,  and  hath 
the  strengths,  munitions,  and  men  of  war  at  his  command- 
ment. The  next  head  is  the  preservation  and  keeping  of 
the  Prince.  The  third  is  to  pursue  them  that  murdered 
the  King.  For  the  pursuit  of  these  three  heads  they  have 
promised  to  bestow  their  lives,  lands,  and  goods.  And  to 
that  effect  their  lordships  have  desired  me  to  write  unto 
your  lordship,  to  the  end  they  might  have  your  sovereign's 
aid  and  support  for  suppressing  of  the  cruel  murderer 
Bothwell,  who,  at  the  Queen's  last  being  in  Stirling, 
suborned  certain  to  have  poisoned  the  Prince;  for  that 
barbarous  tyrant  is  not  contented  to  have  murdered  the 
father,  but  he  would  also  cut  off  the  son,  for  fear  that  he 
hath  to  be  punished  hereafter.  The  names  of  the  Lords 
that  convened  in  Stirling  were  the  Earls  of  Argyle,  Morton, 
Athole,  and  Mar.  These  forenamed,  as  said  is,  have 
desired  me  to  write  unto  your  Lordship,  to  the  end  that 
I  might  know  by  you  if  your  sovereign  would  give  them 
support  concerning  these  three  heads  above  written. 
Wherefore  I  beseech  your  lordship,  who  I  am  assured 
loveth  the  quietness  of  these  two  realms,  to  let  me  have 
a  direct  answer,  and  that  with  haste;  for  presently  the 
foresaid  Lords  are  suited  unto  by  Monsieur  de  Croc,  who 


88  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

offereth  unto  them,  in  his  master,  the  King  of  France's 
name,  if  they  will  follow  his  advice  and  counsel,  that  they 
shall  have  aid  and  support  to  suppress  the  Earl  Bothwell 
and  his  faction.  Also  he  hath  admonished  her  to  desist 
from  the  Earl  Bothwell,  and  not  to  marry  him ;  for  if  she 
do,  he  hath  assured  her  that  she  shall  neither  have  friend- 
ship nor  favour  out  of  France,  if  she  shall  have  to  do :  * 
but  his  saying  is,  she  will  give  no  ear.  There  is  to  be 
joined  with  the  four  forenamed  lords,  the  Earls  of  Glen- 
cairn,  Cassillis,  Eglinton,  Montrose,  Caithness;  the  Lords 
Boyd,  Ochiltree,  Ruthven,  Drummond,  Gray,  Glammis, 
Innermeith,  Lindsay,  Hume,  and  Herries,  with  all  the 
whole  West  Merse  and  Teviotdale,  the  most  part  of  Fife, 
Angus  and  Mearns.  And  for  this  effect  the  Earl  of  Argyle 
is  ridden  in  the  West,  the  Earl  of  Athole  to  the  North, 
and  the  Earl  of  Morton  to  Fife,  Angus,  and  Montrose. 
The  Earl  of  Mar  remaineth  still  about  the  Prince ;  and  if 
the  Queen  will  pursue  him,  the  whole  Lords  have  promised, 
upon  their  faiths  and  honour,  to  relieve  him.  In  this 
meantime  the  Queen  is  come  to  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh, 
conveyed  by  the  Earl  Bothwell,  where  she  intendeth  to 
remain  until  she  have  levied  some  forces  of  footmen  and 
horsemen,  that  is,  she  minds  to  levy  five  hundred  footmen, 
and  two  hundred  horsemen.  The  money  that  she  hath 
presently  to  do  this,  which  is  five  thousand  crowns,  came 
from  the  font  your  Lordship  brought  unto  the  baptism ; 
the  rest  is  to  be  reft  and  borrowed  of  Edinburgh,  or  the 
men  of  Lothian.  It  will  please  your  Lordship  also  to 
haste  these  other  letters  to  my  Lord  of  Moray,  and  write 
unto  him  to  come  back  again  into  Normandy,  that  he  may 
be  in  readiness  against  my  Lords  write  unto  him.' 

This  time  Queen   Elizabeth   deemed  it  expedient  to 

take  notice  of  Grange's  communication  ;  and  on  the  i  yth 

of  May,  she  instructed  Bedford  as  to  the  answers  which 

he  was  to  return  in  her  name,  with  regard  to  the  three 

*  Jf  any  troubles  should  arise, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  89 

points  indicated  in  the  letter.  As  to  the  first  of  them — to 
have  their  sovereign  delivered  from  bondage — Elizabeth 
pointed  out  that  Mary's  own  statement  to  herself  was  at 
variance  with  that  of  the  Lords,  and  that  the  Scottish 
Queen  attributed  their  hatred  of  Bothwell  to  the  anger 
and  disappointment  which  they  felt  at  his  having  '  in  her 
distress  recovered  her  liberty  out  of  their  hands.' 

Respecting  the  preservation  of  the  young  prince,  Eliza- 
beth professed  not  to  understand  what  was  intended — 
whether  the  Lords  merely  wished  to  entrust  him  to  the 
care  of  his  grandmother,  Lady  Margaret  Lennox,  or 
whether  they  had  some  other  object  in  view.  She  did 
not  hide  her  anxiety  to  get  him  into  her  own  keeping ; 
and  suggestively  added  that  if  she  could  not  be  trusted 
with  his  protection,  she  thought  intermeddling  with  the 
rest  of  the  matters  would  prove  more  hurtful  than  profit- 
able. The  notion  of  placing  the  Crown  on  the  child's 
head  in  the  event  of  his  mother's  marriage  with  Bothwell, 
was  one  which  Elizabeth  altogether  refused  to  entertain — 
'  it  was  a  matter  for  example's  sake,  not  to  be  digested  by 
her  or  any  other  monarch.' 

With  reference  to  the  pursuit  of  the  murderers  of  the 
King,  the  English  Queen  confined  herself  to  the  diplo- 
matic remark  that  she  saw  great  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
undertaking  it  if  Bothwell  were  to  marry  Mary. 

Two  days  before  this  letter  was  written,  the  marriage 
had  actually  taken  place.  This  was  the  signal  for  open 
and  direct  action  on  the  part  of  the  '  Associators.'  With 
two  thousand  horse,  which  they  had  collected  in  all  haste, 
they  set  forth  from  Stirling  intending  to  seize  Mary  and 
Bothwell  in  the  Palace  of  Holyrood.  But  this  plan 
was  frustrated  by  the  sudden  retreat  of  the  Queen  and 
her  husband  to  Borthwick  Castle.  Thither  the  con- 
federates followed  them ;  but  information  of  their  advance 
having  preceded  them,  they  were  again  disappointed. 
Bothwell  made  good  his  escape,  and  betook  himself  to 


go  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

the  stronghold  of  Dunbar,  which  Mary  '  in  men's  clothes, 
booted  and  spurred'  also  succeeded  in  reaching  some 
hours  after  him,  for,  to  ensure  safety,  they  had  found 
themselves  obliged  to  part  company. 

On  the  1 4th  of  June,  the  Queen  and  the  Duke  of 
Orkney,  as  Bothwell  was  now  styled,  marched  out  of 
Dunbar  with  an  army  of  some  four  thousand  men  and 
six  field  pieces  of  brass,  and  reached  Prestonpans  in  the 
evening.  On  receiving  intelligence  of  these  movements 
the  Associators  set  out  from  Edinburgh,  to  which  they  had 
advanced  from  Borthwick ;  and  about  mid-day  on  Sunday 
the  i5th  of  June,  the  opposing  forces  came  into  view  of 
each  other  at  Carberry  Hill,  eight  miles  from  the  Capital. 

The  royal  troops  having  taken  up  their  position  on  the 
hill,  whilst  the  Lords  had  halted  on  the  lower  ground  at 
its  foot,  Kirkcaldy  of  Grange,  together  with  Douglas  of 
Drumlanrig,  Ker  of  Cessfurd,  and  Home  of  Cowden- 
knowes,  was  sent,  at  the  head  of  two  hundred  horse, 
round  the  hill,  towards  the  east  side,  for  the  double 
purpose  of  cutting  off  Bothwell's  retreat,  and  of  securing 
more  favourable  ground  for  an  attack.  The  men,  who  in 
obedience  to  the  Queen's  command,  had  gathered  round 
her  standard,  were  but  half-hearted  in  her  cause;  and 
Bothwell's  conduct  had  not  increased  their  sympathy 
with  her.  As  soon  as  they  found  themselves  hemmed 
in  between  the  infantry  on  the  one  side,  and  Kirkcaldy's 
horse  on  the  other,  they  began  to  desert  in  great 
numbers,  and  it  is  asserted  that  Mary  and  Bothwell  were 
left  with  only  sixty  gentlemen  and  the  band  of  arque- 
busiers.  Seeing  this,  the  Queen  asked  who  led  the 
cavalry.  On  learning  that  it  was  Grange,  she  sent 
Cockburn  of  Ormiston  to  summon  him  to  an  interview 
with  her.  After  having  informed  the  Lords  of  the 
message,  and  obtained  their  consent,  Sir  William  rode 
forward.  Although  the  Queen  had  pledged  her  word  for 
his  safety,  it  is  asserted  by  Sir  James  Melville,  that 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  91 

Bothwell  had  instructed  a  soldier  to  shoot  him.  Mary 
perceived  the  man,  as  he  was  taking  aim,  and  uttering  a 
loud  cry,  she  exclaimed,  'Shame  us  not  with  so  foul  a 
murder ! ' 

In  his  conversation  with  the  Queen,  Kirkcaldy  assured 
her  that  all  in  the  field  were  ready  to  honour  and  serve 
her  on  the  condition  that  she  abandoned  the  Earl  of 
Bothwell,  who  had  murdered  her  husband,  and  who 
could  not  be  a  husband  to  her,  as  he  had  but  lately 
married  the  Earl  of  Huntly's  sister.  Hearing  these  words, 
Bothwell,  who  was  standing  near,  exclaimed  that  he  was 
ready  to  fight,  in  single  combat,  any  man  who  laid 
Darnley's  death  to  his  charge :  '  You  shall  have  an  answer 
speedily,'  said  the  Laird  of  Grange ;  and  riding  back,  he 
obtained  the  Lords'  permission  to  do  battle  as  their 
champion  in  the  quarrel.  On  his  return,  however,  he 
was  objected  to  by  Bothwell,  as  being  neither  Earl,  nor 
Lord,  but  only  a  Baron,  and  consequently  not  his  equal. 
The  Laird  of  Tullibardine  next  offered  to  fight,  but  was 
refused  on  the  same  ground.  '  Then,'  exclaimed  his  elder 
brother,  Sir  William  Murray,  '  I  at  least  am  his  Peer ;  my 
estate  is  better  than  his,  and  my  blood  nobler.'  Him  too 
Bothwell  rejected,  on  the  pretence  that  Tullibardine  was 
not  his  equal  in  degree  of  honour,  and,  wishing  he  said, 
to  have  an  Earl  as  his  adversary,  he  selected  Morton,  who 
at  once  answered  that  he  would  fight  on  foot  with  a  two- 
handed  sword.  Here,  however,  Lord  Lindsay  of  the 
Byres  put  in  his  claim,  as  a  relative  of  the  murdered 
Darnley,  and  begged  to  be  allowed  to  meet  Bothwell. 
This  was  granted  him,  and  Morton  presented  him  with 
his  own  sword,  a  weapon  he  highly  valued  as  having 
belonged  to  his  ancestor,  the  famous  Earl  of  Angus, 
1  Bell-the-Cat.'  But  all  those  preliminaries  led  to  no 
result.  Whether  from  pusillanimity,  as  some  have  main- 
tained, or  because  of  the  Queen's  interference,  as  others 
have  asserted,  or,  according  to  a  third  opinion,  because 


92  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

the  Lords,  amongst  whom  were  some  of  his  former  con- 
federates, wished  him  well  away,  for  fear  lest  being  taken 
he  might  have  revealed  the  whole  plot,  he  retired  from 
the  field,  without  having  struck  a  single  blow. 

Left  to  herself,  Mary  again  sent  for  Grange,  and  told 
him  that  if  the  Lords  would  do  as  he  had  said,  she  would 
renounce  Bothwell,  and  go  over  to  them.  Sir  William 
having  obtained  their  recognition  of  the  promises  which 
he  had  made,  again  rode  up  the  hill  to  communicate  it  to 
the  Queen.  In  reply,  she  said  to  him  :  '  Laird  of  Grange, 
I  render  myself  unto  you,  upon  the  condition  you  re- 
hearsed unto  me.'  With  those  words,  she  gave  him  her 
hand,  which  the  gallant  soldier  respectfully  kissed.  Having 
helped  her  to  mount,  he  led  her  horse  by  the  bridle  down 
the  hill  towards  the  Lords,  who  received  their  Queen  with 
'  all  dutiful  reverence.'  Some  of  the  meaner  sort,  however, 
behaved  in  a  very  different  manner ;  to  check  their  coarse 
ribaldry,  Grange  struck  at  them  with  his  drawn  sword. 

Mary's  ignominious  entry  into  Edinburgh,  and  the 
treatment  to  which  she  was  subjected  after  being  taken, 
not  to  Holyrood,  but  to  the  house  of  Sir  Simon  Preston 
of  Craigmillar,  did  not  augur  well  for  the  observance  of 
the  conditions  which  Sir  William  had  been  authorised  to 
grant  on  the  field  of  Carberry.  Indeed,  there  never 
seems  to  have  been  a  serious  thought  on  the  part  of  any 
one  except  the  Laird  of  Grange  to  keep  faith  with  the 
unfortunate  Queen.  He,  however,  had  been  thoroughly 
sincere  throughout ;  and  his  indignation  was  therefore 
great  when  he  learnt  that  it  had  been  resolved  to  relegate 
Mary,  as  a  prisoner  for  life,  to  the  island  fortress  in  Loch- 
leven.  When  he  protested  against  the  violation  of  the 
promise  which  he  had  made  to  the  Queen,  he  was  told 
that  on  the  very  night  of  her  return  to  Edinburgh,  Mary 
had  written  to  Bothwell,  and  bribed  one  of  her  keepers  to 
get  her  letter  conveyed  to  him,  but  that  the  man  had 
handed  it  over  to  the  Lords.  In  this  letter,  it  was 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  93 

alleged,  she  called  the  Earl  her  Dear  Heart,  whom  she 
should  never  forget  nor  abandon,  though  she  was  obliged 
to  be  absent  from  him  for  the  time ;  she  assured  him  her 
only  object  in  sending  him  away  had  been  to  ensure  his 
safety;  and  she  besought  him  to  be  comforted  and  to 
remain  on  his  guard. 

Even  though  he  does  not  appear  to  have  questioned 
the  genuineness  of  her  letter,  Kirkcaldy  urged  that  it  did 
not  free  them  from  the  obligation  contracted  by  them 
towards  the  Queen.  In  spite  of  it,  she  had,  in  actual  fact, 
abandoned  the  Earl  ;  and  that  she  should  give  him  a  few 
fair  words  was,  he  said,  no  wonder.  He  expressed  his 
own  conviction  that  '  if  she  were  discreetly  handled,  and 
humbly  admonished  what  inconveniences  that  man  had 
brought  upon  her,  she  would  by  degrees  be  brought  not 
only  to  leave  him,  but  ere  long  to  detest  him ;  and  there- 
fore he  advised  to  deal  gently  with  her.' 

To  Sir  William's  earnest  remonstrances,  the  Lords 
replied  that  'it  stood  them  upon  their  lives  and  lands; 
and  that  therefore,  in  the  meantime,  they  behoved  to 
secure  her ;  and  when  that  time  came  that  she  should  be 
known  to  abandon  and  detest  Earl  Bothwell,  it  would  be 
then  time  to  reason  upon  the  matter.'  Their  arguments 
did  not,  however,  satisfy  him,  and  '  had  it  not  been  for 
the  letter,  he  had  instantly  left  them.' 

In  the  meantime,  Mary  had  written  to  the  Laird  of 
Grange,  complaining  of  the  harsh  treatment  to  which  she 
had  been  subjected,  and  protesting  against  the  breach  of 
faith  of  which  she  was  the  victim.  His  answer  was  to  the 
effect  that  he  himself  had  already  reproached  the  Lords 
with  their  conduct  towards  her,  but  that  they  had  shown 
him  a  letter  of  hers  to  the  Earl  of  Bothwell,  in  which 
'Among  many  other  fair  and  comfortable  words,'  she 
promised  never  to  abandon  or  forget  him.  'That,'  he 
said,  'had  stopped  his  mouth.'  He  went  on  to  express 
his  wonder  that  her  Majesty  could  consider  herself  wedded 


94  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

to  a  man  who  had  but  recently  married  another  woman, 
and  deserted  her  without  any  just  ground.  He  besought 
her  '  to  put  him  clean  out  of  mind,  seeing  otherwise  she 
could  never  get  the  love  or  respect  of  her  subjects,  nor 
have  that  obedience  paid  her,  which  otherwise  she  might 
expect ; '  and  he  added  '  many  other  loving  and  humble 
admonitions,  which  made  her  bitterly  to  weep ;  for  she 
could  not  do  that  so  hastily,  which  process  of  time  might 
have  accomplished.' 

Judging  that  the  most  practical  means  of  destroying 
Bothwell's  influence  would  be  to  get  possession  of  his 
person — a  measure  which  had  been  strangely  and,  indeed, 
suspiciously  neglected  at  Carberry — and  to  bring  him  to 
justice,  Sir  William  readily  accepted  the  command  of  an 
expedition  having  for  its  object  the  capture  of  the  Earl. 
After  Carberry,  the  Duke  of  Orkney  had  betaken  him- 
self to  his  dukedom,  which  had  not  yet  seen  its  new 
master.  Having  met  with  a  very  hostile  reception  at  the 
hands  of  Gilbert  Balfour,  the  keeper  of  Kirkwall,  he  went 
over  to  Shetland,  where  the  more  friendly  bailiff,  Olaf 
Sinclair,  supplied  him  with  provisions.  The  two  vessels 
with  which  he  had  come  from  the  south  being  but  small, 
he  got  possession  of  two  Hanseatic  ships,  the  Pelican 
and  the  Breame.  After  forcibly  seizing  them  and  cast- 
ing out  their  cargoes  on  the  shore,  as  Geert  Hemelingk 
related,  he  had  obliged  the  two  German  skippers  to  sign 
a  contract,  so  as  to  give  his  act  of  violence  the  appearance 
of  a  legitimate  transaction,  and  had  begun  a  piratical 
cruise  amongst  the  islands.  He  was  reported  to  have 
killed  the  Bishop  of  Orkney's  son  and  put  all  his  servants 
out  of  the  castle. 

On  the  1 2th  of  August,  Kirkcaldy,  with  whom  was  Sir 
William  Murray  of  Tullibardine,  received  seabrieves,  'for 
the  seeking,  searching,  and  apprehension  of  the  Earl  of 
Bothwell  and  his  accomplices.'  Exactly  a  week  later,  he 
set  sail  for  Dundee,  fully  determined  to  give  the  pirate 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  95 

Earl  no  chance  of  escape.  In  a  letter  to  Bedford,  written 
immediately  before  his  departure,  he  said :  '  And  for  my 
owne  part,  albeit  I  be  no  gud  seeman,  I  promess  unto 
your  Lordship,  gyf  I  may  anes  encounter  hym,  eyther  be 
see  or  land,  he  shall  either  carie  me  with  him,  or  else  I 
shall  bryng  him  dead  or  quick  to  Edinburgh.' 

The  squadron  under  his  orders  consisted  of  four  ships 
— the  Unicorn,  on  which  he  himself  embarked,  the  Prim- 
rose, the  James,  and  the  Robert.  They  were  all  heavily 
armed,  and  had  four  hundred  arquebusiers,  besides  the 
respective  crews. 

Calling  at  Kirkwall,  Grange  was  informed  that  Bothwell 
was  at  Shetland,  and  at  once  made  for  the  Bressay  Sound. 
There  the  Pelican  and  the  Breame,  with  the  two  lesser 
craft,  were  seen  lying  at  anchor.  A  number  of  the  men 
belonging  to  the  crews  were  on  shore,  and  the  Earl  him- 
self was  dining  with  Sinclair.  When  those  who  remained 
on  board  caught  sight  of  the  squadron  as  it  entered  the 
Sound  by  the  south,  they  slipped  their  cables,  and  setting 
all  sail,  steered  for  the  northern  channel.  In  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  his  master-mariner,  Kirkcaldy,  bent  on 
carrying  out  the  dashing  tactics  which  he  had  so  often 
found  successful  in  his  cavalry  charges  on  land,  ordered 
every  stitch  of  canvas  to  be  crowded  on  the  Unicorn, 
and  hastened  in  pursuit.  His  ship  sailed  well,  and  was 
gradually  gaining  on  the  hindmost  of  the  fugitives ;  but 
it  drew  more  water  than  they.  Even  for  them,  the 
navigation  of  the  rock-strewn  channel  was  difficult  and 
dangerous.  One  of  them  grazed  a  sunken  reef,  over 
which  it  barely  managed  to  slip,  though  not  without 
damage.  The  Unicorn  was  less  fortunate.  Striking 
the  same  rock  with  violence,  it  filled  and  sank  so  rapidly 
that  Grange  and  his  men  were  with  difficulty  rescued  by 
the  other  ships.  The  rock  that  caused  the  catastrophe  is 
still  known  by  the  name  of  the  vessel  to  which  it  proved 
fatal. 


96  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

When  Bothwell  heard  of  Kirkcaldy's  arrival,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  Pelican^  which,  with  its  consorts, 
had  retired  to  Unst,  the  most  northerly  of  the  islands. 
But  before  he  could  get  safely  away  the  pursuers  were 
upon  him  again.  There  followed  a  sharp  engagement 
which  lasted  three  hours,  and  in  the  course  of  which  the 
mast  of  his  best  ship  was  shot  down.  He  owed  his 
deliverance  to  a  south-westerly  gale  which  suddenly 
sprang  up  and  drove  him  out  to  sea,  together  with  two 
of  his  other  ships.  The  fourth  was  captured;  but  Grange 
was  obliged  to  return  to  Dundee  with  a  few  prisoners  of 
inferior  note.  The  Earl  whom  he  had  promised  to  take 
quick  or  dead,  had  escaped  to  Norway. 


IX.     LANGSIDE— AND  AFTER 

WHILST  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  was  cruising  in  the 
North,  important  events  were  taking  place  in  the  Capital. 
The  enforced  abdication  of  Queen  Mary  had  been 
followed  by  the  appointment  of  her  half-brother,  the 
Lord  James,  Earl  of  Murray,  to  be  Regent  of  the  Realm. 
One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  obtain  the  surrender  of  Edin- 
burgh Castle  from  Sir  James  Balfour,  who  had  been 
made  Governor  of  it  by  the  interest  of  Bothwell.  That 
had  not  prevented  him,  however,  from  siding  with  the 
Lords  when  he  saw  the  success  of  their  arms.  But, 
'  though  they  loved  the  treachery,  they  had  no  great 
liking  for  the  man.'  And  they  were  anxious  to  prevent 
the  possibility  of  his  again  turning  against  them,  if 
circumstances  should  seem  to  favour  the  Queen's  party. 
On  the  24th  of  August,  he  agreed  to  deliver  the  fortress 
into  the  Regent's  hands,  subject  to  certain  conditions, 
of  which  one  was  that  the  Laird  of  Grange  should 
succeed  him  as  Governor  and  should  pledge  his  word 
for  his  safety.  When  Kirkcaldy  returned  to  Edin- 
burgh, he  found  himself  appointed  to  the  command  of 
what  was  then  one  of  the  most  important  strongholds 
in  Scotland. 

For  a  few  months  after  this,  the  country  enjoyed  a 
brief  respite.  But  the  Queen's  friends  had  not  abandoned 
her.  On  the  third  of  May  1568,  Murray,  who  was  at 
Glasgow  on  justiciary  business,  received  the  unexpected 
and  startling  information  that  Mary  had  escaped  from 
Lochleven  the  day  before.  The  news  was  soon  con- 

o  97 


98  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

firmed  by  a  message  from  the  Queen  herself,  who,  as 
soon  as  she  reached  Hamilton,  'sent  a  gentleman  to 
the  Earl  of  Murray  and  the  other  Lords,  to  declare  that 
she  was  delivered  by  God's  providence  out  of  captivity, 
and  albeit  she  had  consented  to  a  certain  kind  of 
approving  their  authority,  she  was  thereunto,  for  de- 
fence of  her  life,  compelled;  seeing  God  had  thus 
mercifully  relieved  her,  she  now  desired  them  that  they 
would  restore  her  with  quietness  to  her  former  dignity 
and  estate,  and  she  would  in  like  manner,  wholly  remit 
all  manner  of  actions  committed  against  her  honour  and 
person.' 

Murray's  unconditional  refusal  to  resign  the  regency 
and  restore  Mary,  was  followed  on  both  sides  by  active 
preparation  for  war.  In  answer  to  his  proclamation 
some  4,000  men  assembled  in  Glasgow,  which  he  had 
made  his  headquarters.  Amongst  them  was  a  body  of 
arquebusiers  and  archers,  who  had  come  from  Edin- 
burgh with  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy.  The  Queen's  partisans 
had  gathered  round  her  in  even  greater  numbers;  and 
contemporary  accounts  estimate  the  strength  of  her  forces 
at  fully  6,000. 

The  Regent  having  received  information  that  it  was 
Mary's  intention  to  proceed  to  Dumbarton,  drew  up  his 
army  outside  the  Gallowgate  Port,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
he  sent  Kirkcaldy  to  reconnoitre  the  ground  lying  be- 
tween the  Clyde  and  Langside.  He  was  thus  prepared 
to  intercept  the  royal  forces,  whether  the  northern  or  the 
southern  side  of  the  river  were  chosen  for  their  line  of 
march. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  i3th  of  May,  the  Queen 
with  her  army  started  on  her  march  to  Dumbarton. 
From  the  elevated  position  which  he  held  at  the  Calton, 
Murray  perceived  the  advancing  columns  of  the  enemy 
as  they  neared  Rutherglen.  As  soon  as  it  was  ascertained 
that  the  vanguard  was  not  taking  a  northerly  direction, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  99 

for  the  purpose  of  crossing  the  Clyde  at  the  Dalmar- 
nock  ford,  Grange,  with  an  arquebusier  mounted  be- 
hind each  of  his  two  hundred  horsemen,  rode  with  all 
speed  back  to  Glasgow,  forded  the  river  at  the  east 
of  the  old  Bridge,  and  made  for  Langside,  where  the 
road  to  Dumbarton  lay  between  a  commanding  emin- 
ence and  the  Clyde,  and  where  he  had  already  selected 
an  advantageous  position.  On  reaching  Langside  hill, 
he  posted  his  footmen  at  the  head  of  a  narrow  lane, 
where  cottages  and  gardens  afforded  them  shelter  and 
made  it  impossible  for  the  enemy's  cavalry  to  dislodge 
them. 

With  his  infantry  and  his  ordnance,  which  was  carried 
in  carts,  Murray  made  all  haste  towards  Langside,  along 
the  route  already  taken  by  Grange.  Although  he  had 
further  to  march  than  had  his  opponents,  the  comparative 
slowness  of  their  movements,  due  partly  to  their  greater 
numbers,  and  partly  to  the  confidence  which  they  felt 
that  no  attempt  would  be  made  to  hinder  their  progress, 
enabled  him  to  reach  the  village  and  to  take  up  his 
position  before  they  came  in  view.  As  soon  as  Lord 
Claud  Hamilton,  who  commanded  the  2,000  men  of  the 
Queen's  vanguard,  saw  that  the  village  was  occupied,  he 
made  an  attempt  to  carry  the  lane  in  which  Grange  had 
posted  his  infantry.  A  sharp  fire  checked  the  advance, 
and  threw  the  assailants  into  confusion  for  a  time. 
Rallying,  however,  they  courageously  and  fiercely  stormed 
the  hill  held  by  Murray.  Grange,  to  whose  experience 
and  discretion  it  had  been  left  to  'encourage  and  make 
help  where  greatest  need  was,'  was  at  this  point;  and, 
as  the  foremost  ranks  came  to  close  quarters,  he  gave 
his  men  an  order  which  illustrates  the  peculiar  mode  of 
warfare  of  the  time.  He  called  out  to  them,  says  Melville, 
who  was  present,  '  to  let  their  adversaries  first  lay  down 
spears,  to  bear  up  theirs.'  A  stubborn  struggle  ensued. 
According  to  Buchanan's  account,  the  two  brigades  held 


ioo  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

out  a  thick  stand  of  pikes  like  a  breast-work  before  them, 
and  fought  desperately  for  half-an-hour,  without  yielding 
ground  on  either  side ;  insomuch  that  they  whose  long 
spears  were  broken,  hurled  pistols,  daggers,  stones,  frag- 
ments of  lances,  and  whatever  was  at  hand,  into  the  faces 
of  the  enemy.' 

Another  remarkable  incident  is  mentioned  by  Melville. 
'  So  thick,'  he  says,  '  were  the  spears  fixed  in  others'  jacks, 
that  some  of  the  pistols  and  great  staves  that  were  thrown 
by  them  which  were  behind,  might  be  seen  lying  upon 
the  spears.' 

In  the  meantime,  Grange  perceived  that  the  right  wing 
of  the  Regent's  vanguard,  chiefly  composed  of  men  from 
the  Barony  of  Renfrewshire,  was  beginning  to  waver. 
Hastening  to  them,  he  called  out  that  the  enemy  was 
already  giving  way,  and  besought  them  to  hold  out  till 
he  returned  with  reinforcements.  Then  riding  at  full 
speed  to  the  Regent's  left  wing,  which  had  been  standing 
in  reserve,  he  obtained  a  body  of  fresh  troops,  with  which 
he  dashed  at  the  enemy's  flank.  This  movement  de- 
cided the  fate  of  the  battle.  The  vanguard  of  the 
Queen's  army  was  forced  to  fall  back  upon  the  main 
body,  which,  instead  of  supporting  it  and  enabling  it 
to  rally,  broke  into  precipitate  flight.  Grange  pursued 
with  the  cavalry;  but  he  'was  never  cruel,'  and  more- 
over, the  Regent  had  issued  orders  to  save  and  not  to 
kill,  so  that  there  were  but  few  taken,  and  fewer  slain. 
No  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  his  fleeing  countrymen 
was  needed  to  make  the  victory  complete  and  decisive. 
His  clever  tactics  and  his  courageous  behaviour  had 
secured  that  already. 

On  the  8th  of  May  1568,  immediately  before  his 
departure  to  join  the  forces  of  the  Regent  in  Glasgow, 
Sir  William  Kirkcaldy,  being  obliged  to  withdraw  a 
considerable  part  of  the  garrison  on  which  the  safety, 
no  less  of  the  Capital  than  of  the  stronghold  depended, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  101 

took  the  precaution  of  securing  the  active  co-operation 
of  the  citizens  themselves,  for  the  repression  of  any 
insurrectionary  movement  in  the  Queen's  favour,  by 
means  of  a  mutual  bond  signed  by  himself  on  behalf 
of  the  Castle,  and  by  Sir  Simon  Preston  of  Craigmillar, 
Provost  of  Edinburgh,  acting  for  himself,  the  bailies, 
Council,  and  community.  With  many  protestations  of 
loyalty  to  the  'most  undoubted  sovereign's  Regent  and 
Governor,  James,  Earl  of  Murray,'  and  with  strong 
expressions  of  indignation  at  the  'unnatural  and  un- 
godly proceedings '  of  those  who  were  convened  in  arms 
against  him,  it  bound  each  of  the  contracting  parties 
to  assist  the  other  'at  all  times  and  in  all  places  needful, 
against  all  and  sundry.' 

After  his  return  from  the  brief  but  decisive  expedition, 
to  the  success  of  which  he  had  materially  contributed, 
the  Governor  of  the  Castle  was  entrusted  with  the  custody 
of  some  of  the  most  important  of  the  prisoners  taken  at 
Langside.  A  few  months  later,  his  steady  adherence  to 
the  Regent  brought  him  the  double  distinction  of  being 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  Provost  of  Edinburgh,  and  of 
being  not  only  denounced  by  the  leaders  of  the  faction 
which  still  looked  upon  the  exiled  Mary  as  the  lawful 
sovereign,  but  actually  ordered  by  them  to  constitute 
himself  a  prisoner,  within  twenty  days,  in  the  Castle 
of  Dumbarton.  When  next  he  appeared  as  a  prominent 
actor  in  the  politics  of  the  time,  circumstances  had 
worked  startling  changes  in  the  respective  positions  of 
parties,  and  were  already  hurrying  public  men  towards 
a  momentous  crisis,  under  the  influence  of  which  old 
ties  were  to  be  violently  severed,  and  new  sympathies 
and  new  aims  were  to  bring  former  friends  into  bitter 
conflict  with  each  other. 

The  policy  which  Elizabeth  had  adopted  from  the 
moment  when  the  Scottish  Queen  was  in  her  power, 
and  the  discovery  of  her  scheme  for  assuming  the  virtual 


102  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

management  of  Scottish  affairs,  after  obtaining  possession 
of  the  infant  prince,  had  produced  a  strong  revulsion  in 
the  feelings  of  many  who  had  hitherto  looked  trustingly 
and  hopefully  towards  England ;  and  Murray's  popularity, 
already  shaken  by  his  severity  towards  Mary's  adherents, 
after  the  battle  of  Langside,  sank  lower  and  lower  as  proof 
after  proof  of  his  subserviency  to  the  English  Government 
was  produced  by  his  opponents.  Those  who,  realising 
the  difficulty  of  his  position,  and  believing  that  he  was 
as  much  the  victim  as  the  accomplice  of  the  unscrupulous 
policy  of  Elizabeth  and  her  astute  minister,  Cecil,  were 
still  inclined  to  give  him  credit  for  sincerity  and  honesty 
of  purpose,  felt  their  confidence  in  him  die  away  when, 
to  propitiate  Elizabeth,  he  consented  to  the  impeachment 
of  Maitland.  Amongst  them  was  Kirkcaldy.  At  first, 
indeed,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  believe  in  the 
Regent's  responsibility  for  the  step.  Writing  to  Bedford, 
he  confessed  that  he  was  unable  to  give  a  better  or 
certain  ground  for  the  committing  of  Lethington  to  ward 
but  the  malice  and  envy  of  some  of  his  enemies,  who  by 
means  of  a  faction,  had  craftily  induced  the  Regent  to 
do  that  which  he  was  most  unwilling  to  do.  He  was 
assured,  he  said,  that  Murray  in  his  heart  sorely  repented 
that  ever  he  had  yielded  to  their  passions ;  and  he  felt 
no  doubt  that  the  trial  would  result  in  a  declaration  of 
the  innocence  of  Lethington  and  the  confusion  of  his 
enemies. 

The  confidence  which  Kirkcaldy  still  endeavoured  to 
feel  in  his  old  friend  Murray,  was  roughly  shaken  by  a 
letter  which  he  received  from  Lord  Doune,  and  from 
which  he  learnt  that  it  was  a  part  of  the  Regent's  plan 
to  get  possession  of  Edinburgh  Castle,  and  to  entrust  it 
to  the  keeping  of  the  Laird  of  Drumwhazel.  So  far  as 
he  was  personally  concerned,  Grange  was  so  heartily  tired 
of  public  life,  of  the  plotting  and  counter-plotting  which 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  103 

seemed  to  have  become  the  very  essence  of  politics,  that 
he  would  very  willingly  have  surrendered  his  command, 
and  have  withdrawn  altogether  from  the  Court.  For  the 
sake  of  Lethington,  however,  whose  danger  he  fully 
realised,  and  to  whom  he  knew  that  he  might  be  of 
service  so  long  as  he  retained  the  power  and  influence 
which  the  possession  of  the  Castle  gave  him,  he  deter- 
mined to  remain  at  his  post.  At  the  same  time,  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  remonstrate  with  Murray,  and  to 
point  out  to  him  the  injustice  of  his  conduct  towards 
the  Secretary,  as  well  as  towards  Sir  James  Balfour 
who  had  also  been  arrested,  and  in  whom  Kirkcaldy 
was  in  so  far  interested,  that,  on  taking  over  the  com- 
mand of  the  Castle,  he  had  pledged  his  word  for  the 
safety  of  the  former  Governor.  In  his  reply,  Murray 
endeavoured  to  throw  the  whole  responsibility  upon 
the  Council.  The  members,  he  alleged,  were  so  banded 
together  against  Maitland  and  Balfour,  and  the  charge 
of  murder  brought  against  both  of  them  was  so  grave, 
that  he  could  not  take  it  on  himself  to  release  them 
from  custody.  He  promised,  however,  that,  at  his 
next  meeting  with  Kirkcaldy,  he  would  explain  his 
views  and  show  them  to  be  perfectly  honourable. 
In  the  meantime,  he  besought  him  to  suspend  his 
judgment. 

Sir  William  refused  to  be  satisfied  with  the  obvious 
evasion,  and  he  met  it  with  a  bold  and  vigorous  measure. 
Seeing  that  it  was  really  intended  to  bring  Maitland  and 
Balfour  to  trial  for  their  lives  he  demanded  that  Morton 
and  Archibald  Douglas  should  be  dealt  with  in  the  same 
manner.  He  charged  them  with  being  '  upon  the  council, 
and  consequently  art  and  part  of  the  King's  murder.' 
In  support  of  the  accusation  he  offered  to  meet  them  in 
single  combat  with  Lord  Herries  as  his  fellow-champion. 
This  stayed  the  proceedings  against  the  two  prisoners  for 


104  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

a  while.  Still  protesting  that  he  was  a  helpless  and  un- 
willing agent  in  the  matter  of  their  impeachment  Murray 
informed  Kirkcaldy  that  he  intended  to  send  Balfour  to 
St  Andrews,  and  to  bring  Lethington  to  Edinburgh  for 
the  purpose  of  entrusting  him  to  the  safe-keeping  of 
the  Governor  of  the  Castle.  At  the  same  time,  however, 
Grange  received  information  that  this  apparent  concession 
hid  a  treacherous  plot  against  himself.  It  was  intended 
to  make  the  Secretary  an  instrument  to  draw  his  friend, 
the  Governor,  from  the  Castle  into  the  town,  under  pre- 
tence of  handing  the  prisoner  over  to  him;  and  then 
to  retain  him  until  the  fortress  had  been  given  over  to 
Drumwhazel.  Kirkcaldy  was  subsequently  to  be  sent 
home,  and  to  be  appeased  with  a  gift  of  the  Priory  of 
Pittenweem. 

According  to  Melville,  Morton  had  devised  a  more 
unscrupulous  plot,  with  a  view  to  revenging  himself  upon 
Kirkcaldy.  '  He  had  appointed  four  men  to  slay  Grange 
at  the  entry  of  the  Regent's  lodging,  without  the  Regent's 
knowledge.'  But  the  Governor  had  a  scheme  of  his  own, 
which  effectually  thwarted  those  of  his  two  adversaries. 
Arguing  that  if,  as  he  declared,  the  Regent  had  really 
been  coerced  into  sanctioning  the  arrest  of  Lethington, 
he  would  be  glad  of  his  escape;  but  that  if,  on  the 
contrary,  he  were  playing  a  double  game,  his  disappoint- 
ment at  losing  his  prisoner  would  expose  his  treachery, 
the  Laird  of  Grange  resolved  to  rescue  Maitland  from  the 
hands  of  his  enemies. 

On  his  arrival  in  Edinburgh  the  Secretary  was  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  Alexander  Hume  of  North 
Berwick.  That  same  evening,  about  ten  o'clock,  Kirk- 
caldy went  to  Hume  with  an  order  bearing  what  pur- 
ported to  be  the  Regent's  signature.  Hume  knew  that 
Murray  and  the  Laird  had  but  lately  been  on  terms  of 
the  closest  friendship;  but  he  does  not  appear  to  have 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  105 

been  aware  of  their  more  recent  estrangement  and 
antagonism.  Suspecting  no  deception,  and  very  possibly 
unacquainted  with  the  Regent's  handwriting,  he  assumed 
the  genuineness  of  the  document  presented  to  him,  and 
allowed  Maitland  to  be  quietly  conveyed  to  the  Castle. 

When  Murray  and  his  friends  learnt  that  the  Secretary 
was  no  longer  in  their  power  they  were  in  great  perplexity, 
'supposing  all  their  counsels  to  be  disclosed.'  It  was 
thought  best,  however,  that  the  Regent  should  cover  his 
anger  for  the  time,  and  that  he  should  take  the  earliest 
opportunity  of  calling  upon  Grange  at  the  Castle  as 
though  nothing  had  happened.  This  he  did  the  very 
next  day.  But  in  his  anxiety  to  deceive  the  Governor 
he  protested  too  much,  and  gave  him  more  fair  words 
than  he  was  wont  to  do,  'which  Grange  took  in  evil 
part.' 

The  Castle  was  becoming  the  headquarters  of  Murray's 
opponents.  He  had,  prior  to  Maitland's  arrest,  induced 
the  Duke  of  Chastelherault  and  Lord  Herries  to  come 
to  Edinburgh  with  a  view  to  discussing  the  position  of 
affairs,  and  had  then  handed  them  as  prisoners  to  the 
custody  of  the  Governor.  Grange  had  duly  received 
them,  but  he  treated  them  as  friends  and  as  guests,  and 
protested  against  the  treachery  of  which  they  had  been  the 
victims.  John  Wood,  an  ardent  partisan  of  the  Regent's, 
was  sent  to  the  Castle  for  the  purpose  of  appeasing  and 
conciliating  the  Governor.  The  substance  of  their  con- 
versation, as  reported  by  Melville,  goes  far  to  explain 
Kirkcaldy's  attitude  towards  the  party  of  which  he  had 
once  been  a  zealous  supporter.  '  I  marvel  at  you,'  said 
Wood,  '  that  you  will  be  offended  at  this ;  for  how  shall 
we,  who  are  my  Lord's  dependers,  get  rewards,  but  by  the 
wreck  of  such  men?' — 'Yea,'  replied  Grange,  'is  that 
your  holiness?  I  see  nothing  among  you  but  envy, 
greediness,  and  ambition ;  whereby  you  will  wreck  a  good 
Regent,  and  ruin  the  country.' 


io6  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

In  spite  of  Murray's  assumed  indifference,  Lethington's 
escape  caused  him  the  most  grievous  disappointment  and 
annoyance ;  and  it  was  evident  that  he  and  Grange  were 
gradually  being  carried  further  apart.  With  a  view  to  pre- 
venting an  open  rupture  between  them,  Melville  devised 
a  plan,  which  he  took  it  on  himself  to  lay  before  the 
Regent.  He  suggested  that  Lethington  should  retire  to 
France,  and  that  after  his  friend's  departure,  Kirkcaldy 
should,  of  his  own  accord,  resign  his  command  of 
Edinburgh  Castle.  The  Regent,  however,  still  protested 
that  he  bore  Maitland  no  ill-will,  and  had  no  wish  to 
drive  him  into  exile.  As  to  Grange,  he  said  he  had  too 
many  obligations  to  him,  and  too  great  proofs  of  his 
fidelity  to  mistrust  him.  It  had  never  been  his  intention, 
he  again  declared,  to  take  the  Castle  from  him ;  and  if  it 
were  not  in  his  keeping  already,  he  would  entrust  it  to 
him  rather  than  to  any  other.  He  even  went  further  than 
that,  and  denied  that  he  entertained  any  suspicion  of 
either  Grange  or  the  Secretary.  In  proof  of  the  sincerity 
of  his  words,  he  went  up  to  the  Castle  and  'conferred 
friendly  with  them  of  all  his  affairs,  with  a  merry  coun- 
tenance, and  casting  in  many  purposes,  minding  them  of 
many  straits  and  dangers  they  had  formerly  been  together 
engaged  in.'  But  both  Kirkcaldy  and  Maitland  were  too 
well  acquainted  with  him,  and  had  too  long  'been  his 
chief  advisers  under  God,'  not  to  detect  the  violent  effort 
which  this  show  of  friendship  cost  him.  No  good  to 
either  party  resulted  from  the  interview.  Indeed,  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  doubt  that  an  irremediable  breach  was 
only  prevented  by  Murray's  tragic  and  untimely  end. 
He  was  shot  by  Bothwellhaugh  on  the  23rd  of  January 
1569.  Political  differences  were  forgotten  in  the  presence 
of  death ;  and  Kirkcaldy's  grief  at  his  former  friend  and 
comrade's  untimely  fate  was  heartfelt  and  sincere.  When 
Murray's  body  was  solemnly  carried  to  its  resting-place 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  107 

in  the  Cathedral  of  St  Giles,  he  was  amongst  those 
who  came  to  pay  him  the  last  tribute  of  respect.  It 
was  he  who,  bearing  the  banner  of  the  murdered  Earl, 
headed  the  mournful  procession  from  Holyrood  to  the 
church. 


X.     DEFECTION  ? 

DURING  the  troubled  days  that  intervened  between  the 
death  of  Murray  and  the  regency  of  Lennox,  Sir  William 
Kirkcaldy,  whilst  continuing  to  assert  his  allegiance  to  the 
youthful  King,  maintained  his  intercourse  with  Maitland 
and  the  other  leading  men  of  the  party  which  openly 
favoured  the  captive  Queen.  The  correspondence  of  the 
time  bears  evident  testimony  to  the  importance  which  his 
possession  of  the  Castle  gave  him,  and  to  the  doubts 
and  fears  with  which  his  conduct  inspired  Elizabeth's 
ministers.  On  the  ;th  of  April  1570,  Randolph,  who 
had  returned  to  Scotland,  wrote  to  Cecil  that  he  had 
found  in  Grange  great  honesty  and  dutifulness  to  his 
sovereign.  Less  than  a  week  later  he  repeated  the  state- 
ment, but  with  a  suggestive  limitation,  and  with  the 
expression  of  his  fears  that  the  Laird  of  Grange  might 
be  '  enchanted '  by  Lethington,  whose  efforts  to  bring  back 
his  mistress  to  Scotland  were  attributed  rather  to  a  desire 
'  to  spite  others  than  to  profit  himself.'  Writing  to  Cecil 
on  the  2ist  of  the  same  month,  Sussex,  the  leader  of  the 
English  forces  that  had  recently  spread  devastation  through 
Teviotdale,  informed  him  that  'Grange  was  vehemently 
suspected  of  his  fellows ; '  and  •  the  defection  of  Grange ' 
was  one  of  the  indications  which,  about  the  same  time, 
he  gave  Elizabeth  of  the  gradual  falling  off  of  the  King's 
adherents.  In  a  communication  bearing  the  date  of 
the  25th,  Morton  forwarded  a  scarcely  less  unfavourable 
account.  The  furthest  they  could  get  from  the  Captain 

108 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  109 

of  the  Castle,  he  told  Randolph,  was  that  he  should  re- 
main neutral.  In  explanation  of  this  luke-warmness,  the 
writer  repeated  a  rumour  current  at  the  time,  that  Kirk- 
caldy  had  been  bribed  by  Mary  with  the  gift  of  the  Priory 
of  St  Andrews.  That,  he  added,  was  the  Secretary's 
device,  for  Judas  non  dormit. 

A  similar  report  had  reached  the  Governor's  ears,  and 
he  gave  it  a  direct  and  emphatic  denial,  in  a  letter  which 
he  addressed  to  Randolph  on  the  2  6th  of  April,  and 
which  deserves  notice  as  containing  his  own  apology  for 
the  line  of  conduct  he  was  following  : — 

'BROTHER  THOMAS, — I  received  your  writing  this 
Wednesday  at  nine  of  the  clock,  and  perceive  thereby  of 
divers  and  sundry  reports  ye  have  heard  of  me,  and  of 
your  desires  therefore  to  be  assured,  either  by  word  or 
writ,  what  ye  may  trust  unto.  Therefore,  this  is  to 
assure  you,  that  I  remain,  and  shall  continue,  the  King's 
faithful  subject,  and  shall  maintain  his  authority  aye  and 
while  the  same  be  taken  away  by  order  of  law.  As  to  the 
pursuit  of  my  Lord  Regent's  murder,  I  shall  be  as  ready 
to  the  revenging  thereof  as  any  in  Scotland;  but  I  will 
not  take  the  deadly  feud  upon  me  of  all  the  Hamiltons, 
as  some  would  I  should  do. 

'  My  grey  hair  has  let  me  understand  what  truth  and 
constancy  is  in  our  nobility;  therefore,  brother,  albeit 
I  will  not  enterprise  as  I  have  done,  yet  I  pray  you  and 
others  not  to  have  the  worst  opinion  of  me ;  for  since  he 
is  dead  I  mind  never  to  subject  myself  over-far  to  any  of 
them  that  are  left  behind,  for  I  know  their  humour  and 
condition  too  well.  I  am  sure  it  is  come  to  your  ears,  that 
I  should  give  over  this  house  for  the  Priory  of  St  Andrews, 
to  the  Lord  Seaton  ;  which,  truly,  was  never  meant  nor 
yet  laid  to  my  charge,  but  is  only  sown  abroad  by  them 
that  hate  me,  and  would  make  me  odious  to  the  world. 
Therefore,  this  shall  be  to  assure  you,  and  all  others,  that 


no  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

I  shall  keep  this  house  to  the  King's  behalf,  until  an  order 
be  taken,  or  else  the  highest  house  in  it  shall  be  the  lowest. 
But  now,  to  be  plain  with  you,  your  manner  of  proceed- 
ings make  many  to  suspect  ye  intend  to  do  otherwise 
with  us  than  ye  have  set  out  by  your  proclamation ;  for 
so  have  ye  begun  upon  the  Lord  Maxwell,  who  has 
never  offended  you,  nor  yet  left  the  King's  obedience,  nor 
yet  had  to  do  with  your  rebels. 

'As  I  wrote  before  unto  you,  seeing  that  ye  have 
wrecked  Teviotdale,  whereby  your  Mistress's  honour  is 
repaired,  I  pray  you  seek  to  do  us  no  more  harm; 
for  I  am  sure  in  the  end  you  shall  lose  more  than  you 
can  gain  thereby;  for  the  Queen  your  Mistress  shall 
spend  much  silver,  and  lose  our  hearts  in  the  end; 
for  whatsoever  ye  do  to  any  Scotsman,  the  whole 
nation  will  think  them  interested  thereby.  Amongst 
other  things,  I  am  sure  there  come  many  evil  reports  of 
me  to  you,  for  the  putting  to  liberty  of  my  prisoners. 
But  when  ye  shall  understand  what  I  had  for  me  so  to 
do,  1  trust  ye  shall  be  satisfied.  As  I  spoke  to  you  and 
wrote,  if  your  Mistress  pleases  she  may  take  up  this  whole 
division  that  is  in  Scotland,  and  make  the  whole  to  be 
hers  and  at  her  devotion.  I  will  trouble  you  no  further ; 
but,  I  pray  you,  do  as  ye  would  be  done  to ;  or  else,  all 
the  cloaks  ye  can  cover  your  cause  with  will  be  disclosed 
in  the  end.  I  am  preparing  this  house  to  resist  all  that 
shall  pursue,  and  to  hold  you  at  the  gate,  whensoever  ye 
put  on  your  jack.  Till  farther  occasion,  I  bid  you  heartily 
well  to  fare.  At  Edinburgh  Castle,  26th  April,  at  eleven 
hours,  in  haste. — Your  brother  in  perpetuum, 

W.   KlRKCALDY.' 

Following  closely  upon  this,  Grange  dispatched  to  the 
Earl  of  Sussex  a  further  and  fuller  explanation  of  his 
conduct.  It  was  in  reply  to  a  letter  which  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant  had  written  a  few  days  earlier,  and  of  which 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  in 

the  substance  may  easily  be  inferred   from    Kirkcaldy's 
reply. 

'Mv  VERY  GOOD  LORD, — I  have  received  your  letter, 
dated  at  Berwick,  the  2  6th  of  this  instant,  the  sum 
whereof  is  to  utter  unto  me  such  occurrents  as  by  report 
have  gone  to  your  Lordship  of  my  doings,  to  the  end  that 
by  my  affirmation  or  reproving  of  them,  your  Lordship 
may  understand  what  credit  may  be  given  to  the  said 
reports.  The  whole  matter  rests  in  two  heads — the  one 
that  I  have  declined  from  mine  old  friends  in  this  realm, 
which  heretofore  have  desired  the  amity  of  England ;  the 
other  that  I  have  given  countenance,  or  gone  further,  with 
others  that  have  showed  another  course  of  their  doings, 
and  capitulated  with  the  French.  Both  the  points  are 
general,  and  therefore  the  more  difficult  for  me  to  answer 
them  particularly.  Yet  for  your  Lordship's  satisfaction, 
I  will  not  leave  you  altogether  unanswered.  As  to  the 
former  point — that  I  have  declined  from  my  old  friends — 
I  trust  none  of  themselves  will  blame  me  of  inconstancy 
in  friendship;  and  by  the  contrary,  sure  I  am  such  as 
have  of  old  used  friendly  dealings  with  me,  and  were 
worthy  of  themselves  with  whom  an  honest  man  might 
maintain  friendship,  are  yet  still  with  me  in  the  same 
degree  of  amity  they  were  wont  to  be.  No  occasion  hath 
proceeded  of  me,  by  my  behaviour,  to  the  breaking 
thereof;  as  also  that  all  my  friends,  so  far  as  I  know,  are 
yet  still  desirous  of  the  amity  of  England.  If  any  man 
in  this  realm  will  charge  me  herein  particularly,  when,  by 
his  own  letter  or  speech  to  myself,  he  will  utter  his  mind, 
I  shall  answer  him  accordingly.  As  to  the  other  point, 
I  have  not  altered  my  accustomed  form  of  dealing  with 
the  nobility  of  this  realm,  nor  used  me  otherwise  towards 
them  than  becomes  a  man  of  my  mean  estate.  I  have 
not  given  countenance  to  any  that,  to  my  knowledge, 
mean  unhonestly  either  to  Scotland  or  England ;  nor  yet 


ii2  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

have  gone  either  further  or  nearer  with  any  that  in  their 
doings  have  showed  an  undutiful  course.  Who  have 
capitulated  with  the  French,  or  after  what  sort,  I  know 
not.  A  Frenchman,  indeed,  was  lately  here,  sent,  as  he 
affirmed,  from  the  King  of  France.  With  him  I  spake, 
upon  his  desire;  and  therein,  I  think  I  have  done  nothing 
against  my  duty.  For,  this  realm  being  at  peace  with  all 
nations,  I  see  no  cause  why  the  subjects  of  all  nations 
may  not  freely  resort  amongst  us,  and  have  communication 
with  us  in  peaceable  manner,  principally  Princes'  avowed 
servants.  In  all  his  conference  with  me,  I  assure  your 
Lordship,  he  used  no  language  with  me  prejudicial  to  the 
amity  betwixt  these  .two  realms.  How  others  have  in 
particular  dealt  with  him,  I  know  not.  But  for  mine  own 
part,  I  wish  no  occasion  be  offered,  on  either  part,  to 
disturb  the  quietness  of  this  Isle;  and  whosoever  shall 
offer  best  means  for  the  maintenance  thereof,  his  doings 
I  shall  best  allow.  For  conclusion,  as  I  have  ever  natur- 
ally been  affected  towards  the  amity  of  England,  and,  in 
particular,  at  my  poor  power,  have  borne  a  special  devo- 
tion towards  the  Queen's  Majesty,  as  well  for  benefits 
received  of  her  father  and  brother,  by  me  and  my  friends, 
as  for  Religion's  sake,  and  her  honourable  dealings  with 
this  realm,  in  the  beginning  of  her  Majesty's  reign,  so  I 
will  wish  her  Highness  shall  procure  the  union  of  this 
nobility,  and  I  doubt  not  she  may  bring  it  to  pass,  if  it 
please  her.  And  if  your  Lordship  will  take  that  course 
in  hand,  I  trust  assuredly  it  shall  be  easy  for  your  Lord- 
ship to  begin  and  for  her  Majesty  to  end  whereby  the 
whole  nobility  of  Scotland  may  remain  at  her  Majesty's 
devotion ;  and  I,  for  my  part,  most  earnestly  desire  it. 
And  so,  leaving  to  trouble  your  Lordship  further,  for  the 
present,  I  commit  your  Lordship  to  the  protection  of  God. 
At  Edinburgh  Castle,  the  2gth  of  April,  1570. 

WM.  KIRKCALDY.' 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  113 

Grange's  letters  were  not  agreeable  to  the  English 
agents.  To  accept  his  explanation  would  have  been  to 
admit  that,  as  he  very  clearly  hinted,  the  defection  was 
not  on  his  side,  but  on  that  of  the  English  Government, 
which,  now  that  it  had  Mary  in  its  power,  was  working  as 
persistently  and  as  unscrupulously  as  ever  the  Guises 
had  done,  to  reduce  Scotland  to  political  dependence 
and  subjection,  and  was  consequently  losing  the  con- 
fidence and  alienating  the  sympathy  of  many  of  those  who 
had  been  staunch  supporters  of  the  English  alliance  so 
long  as  they  recognised  in  it  a  guarantee  of  their  own 
liberty.  Randolph's  reply,  written  on  the  first  of  May, 
ignored  the  important  point,  and  confined  itself  to  the 
secondary  matters  mentioned  by  Grange.  The  writer 
expressed  his  satisfaction  at  learning  the  Governor's 
determination  to  maintain  the  King's  authority,  but  pro- 
fessed his  inability  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
proviso  '  until  the  same  be  taken  away  by  order  of  law.' 
He  justified  the  severe  treatment  of  Maxwell  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  received  and  maintained  the  Queen 
of  England's  rebels ;  and,  as  to  the  liberation  of  the 
Castle  prisoners,  he  oracularly  pronounced  that  Kirkcaldy 
would  some  day  repent  it.  He  avoided  expressing  either 
belief  or  incredulity  in  respect  of  the  bestowal  and  accept- 
ance of  the  Priory  of  St  Andrews,  which  the  Laird  had 
directly  and  emphatically  denied,  by  bantering  his  'brother 
William '  about  his  unfitness  to  figure  as  an  ecclesiastic. 
'  It  was  indeed  most  wonderful  unto  me,'  he  said,  '  when 
I  heard  that  you  should  become  a  Prior.  That  vocation 
agreeth  not  with  anything  that  ever  I  knew  in  you,  saving 
for  your  religious  life,  led  under  the  Cardinal's  hat,  when 
we  were  both  students  in  Paris.'  He  concluded  with 
a  sarcastic  allusion  to  Kirkcaldy's  letter  to  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant.  'The  Earl  of  Sussex  has  made  me  privy 
to  a  very  eloquent,  fine-written  letter  of  yours,  which 
passes  my  wit  to  understand.  Either  you  have  lately 

H 


ii4  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

altered  your  hand,  your  style,  your  manner,  and  your 
meaning,  or  used  the  pen  of  some  fine  secretary.' 

Sussex's  reply  was  even  less  conciliatory.  He  con- 
sidered the  principal  points  raised  by  him  to  be  utterly 
unanswered.  He  was  quite  aware  that  it  was  lawful  for 
Kirkcaldy  to  use  conference  with  the  French  or  any  other 
nation,  but  he  remembered  the  time  when  he  would  not 
have  dealt  with  them  without  the  Queen  of  England's 
knowledge  and  consent.  As  to  the  earnest  desire  that 
the  Queen  should  take  in  hand  the  union  of  the  nobility 
of  Scotland,  those  words  were  very  honourable  but  general, 
and  yielded  no  ground  to  conceive  the  writer's  meaning 
in  particulars.  Referring  to  himself,  he  said  that  the 
course  he  had  hitherto  held  consisted  of  two  points :  the 
one,  to  be  revenged  on  such  as  had  maintained  the  rebels 
of  England ;  and  the  other,  to  continue  by  all  means  the 
good  affection  borne  towards  the  Queen  of  England  by 
many  of  the  nobility  of  Scotland,  of  which  number  he 
had  always  accepted  Grange  to  be  a  special  person  to  be 
accounted  of. 

Perceiving  from  this  that  Sussex  was  not  '  fully  satisfied 
with  his  last  writing,'  Kirkcaldy  informed  him  that  he 
meant  to  send  a  special  friend  to  let  him  know  '  his  full 
intentions  in  all  things.'  If  this  messenger  was  ever  sent, 
the  result  of  his  mission  was  not  satisfactory ;  for,  on  the 
4th  of  May,  the  Lord-Lieutenant  addressed  what  he  him- 
self called  '  a  plain  letter '  to  the  Lairds  of  Grange  and 
Lethington.  After  reproaching  them  with  the  ingratitude 
of  their  conduct  towards  the  Queen  of  England,  he  warned 
them  that,  if  they  continued  in  their  course,  he  would 
take  the  field  with  all  the  forces  at  his  disposal,  and  not 
fail  to  take  that  revenge  which  should  be  honourable  for 
his  Mistress. 

Neither  threats  nor  blandishments  could  avail  to  turn 
Kirkcaldy  from  the  purpose  which  he  had  set  himself. 
That  which,  to  those  who  were  anxious  and  impatient  to 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  115 

have  the  weight  of  his  influence  and  the  support  of  his 
authority  on  their  side,  seemed  the  result  of  a  halting 
policy,  was  due  to  his  earnest  and  sincere  desire  to  avert, 
if  possible,  an  outbreak  of  hostilities.  He  still  cherished 
a  lingering  hope  that  Elizabeth  might  adopt  a  course  of 
action  which  would  not  oblige  him  wholly  to  cast  aside 
his  old  sympathy  with  England.  As  late  as  the  5th  of 
July,  Randolph  was  able  to  say  of  him  that  '  he  doubted 
not  of  his  honesty.'  If  proof  were  required  that  the 
whole  responsibility  for  the  apparently  vacillating  con- 
duct of  those  who,  like  Grange,  put  the  welfare  of  their 
country  above  mere  party  considerations,  lay  with  the 
English  Queen,  it  could  be  adduced  in  the  very  words 
of  her  own  agent.  Writing  to  Sussex,  Randolph  did 
not  hesitate  to  inform  him  that  the  public  feeling  was 
one  of  distrust  in  Elizabeth,  'who  so  often  changed 
her  course.'  That,  he  said,  was  in  almost  every  man's 
speech,  and  preached  in  pulpit  plainer  than  he  listed  to 
write. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  the  King's  Lords,  as  the 
opponents  of  the  exiled  Queen  were  now  called,  took  a 
step  which  did  not  augur  well  for  the  pacification  of  the 
country.  They  held  a  convention  in  Edinburgh,  for  the 
purpose  of  conferring  the  Regency  on  Lennox,  who  had 
practically  been  chosen  by  Elizabeth.  He  had  been  for 
years  a  pensioner  on  her  bounty,  and  he  was  known  to 
be  wholly  devoted  to  her  interests. 

If  Grange  had  been  actuated  by  the  sentiments  of 
hostility  which  some  chose  to  attribute  to  him,  he  could 
have  struck  a  decisive  blow  by  bringing  down  the  Tol- 
booth  about  the  ears  of  those  who  were  assembled  within 
it  with  the  intention  of  sanctioning  and  adopting  a  policy 
which  he  believed  to  be  fraught  with  danger  to  Scotland. 
He  contented  himself,  however,  with  absenting  himself 
from  the  convention,  to  which  he  had  been  summoned, 
as  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council, — a  dignity  which  he 


n6  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

held  in  virtue  of  his  office,  as  Provost  of  Edinburgh,  and 
with  refusing  cto  shoot  off  any  piece  of  ordnance  upon 
request,  after  the  proclamation.' 

Instead  of  giving  Grange  credit  for  his  attitude  of 
neutrality,  Sussex  chose  to  take  umbrage  at  it.  In 
another  of  those  letters  which  he  prided  himself  on 
writing  'somewhat  plainly,'  he  reproached  the  Governor 
with  inconsistency  in  professing  to  be  'at  the  Queen  of 
England's  devotion  in  all  matters  that  might  continue 
the  amity  between  both  realms,'  and  yet  refusing  to  join 
the  Lords  convened  in  Edinburgh.  On  the  very  same 
day,  the  Earl  showed  the  sincerity  of  his  own  desire  for 
amity  by  writing  to  Cecil,  to  suggest  a  pretext  on  which 
the  West  Borders  of  Scotland  might  be  invaded,  and  the 
Scots  weakened — a  pretext  which  Elizabeth  admitted  that 
she  'liked  very  well,'  and  which,  before  long,  was  duly 
seized  upon. 

Throughout  all  this  plotting  and  intriguing,  the  party 
which  had  Knox  and  the  Presbyterian  clergy  at  its  head, 
still  continued,  in  its  hostility  to  Mary,  to  put  faith  in 
Elizabeth  and  her  ministers.  To  the  members  of  it, 
Grange's  policy  caused  the  greatest  anxiety,  and  the 
remonstrances  which  they  deemed  it  their  duty  to 
address  to  their  former  champion  were  frequent  and 
vigorous.  Verse  as  well  as  prose  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  him,  and  a  'Hailsome  Admonition,'  published 
by  the  balladist,  Robert  Semple,  presumably  about  the 
beginning  of  September,  when  the  interference  of  both 
France  and  Spain  was  feared,  may  serve  to  show  the 
spirit  of  these  exhortations.  It  opens  with  an  ungrudging 
recognition  of  Grange's  services  in  the  past : — 

O  Lamp  of  licht  and  peirless  Peirll  of  pryse  ! 
O  worthy  Knicht,  in  martiall  deidis  most  ding  !  * 
O  worthy  wicht,  most  vailzeant,  war,  and  wyse  ! 
O  Captaine,  ay  constant  to  the  King  ! 

*  Worthy. 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  117 

O  Lustie  Lord,  that  will  na  wayis  maling  ! 
O  Barroun  bauld,  of  Cheualry  the  floure  1 
O  perfyte  Prouest,  but  maik  into  this  Ring  !  * 
O  gudely  Grange,  but  spot  vnto  this  houre  ! 

After  recapitulating  Kirkcaldy's  exploits,  the  poet 
touches  on  a  delicate  subject — the  disinterested  policy 
of  England — and  indicates  by  his  doubtless  sincere  belief 
in  it,  the  real  and  essential  cause  of  disagreement  between 
Grange  and  his  former  associates. 

Quhat  neids  ye  skar,  thocht  Ingland  do  support  vs, 
To  puneis  sic  as  proudly  dois  Rebell  ? 
That  tyme  at  Leith  thou  knawis  they  did  comfort  vs, 
And  maid  vs  fre  quhen  strangers  did  vs  quell, 
And  never  socht  na  profitte  to  thame  sell : 
Thou  neids  not  feir,  that  hous  thay  never  craifit : 
The  Regent  sayis,  sa  far  as  I  heir  tell, 
Wald  thow  be  trew  thair  can  na  better  haif  it. 

A  threat  more  sorrowful  than  angry,  of  Divine  vengeance, 
if  the  Captain  abandoned  the  cause  which  Semple  and  his 
friends  still  believed  to  be  that  of  religion,  closes  the 
spirited  poem : — 

Thocht  at  this  tyme  thow  haif  that  warlyke  craig, 
And  is  in  hart  curagious  and  bald, 
God  will  nocht  mys  to  scurge  the  with  a  plaig 
Gif  in  his  caus  thow  lat  thy  curage  cald. 
As  thow  may  se,  thick  scurgis  monyfald 
Lich  vpon  thame  that  proudly  dois  disdane. 
Except  the  Lord  be  watche  man  of  the  hald, 
Quha  wallds  the  same,  thair  laubour  is  in  vane. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  1570,  an  incident  which  was 
not  directly  connected  with  the  politics  of  either  party,  and 
to  which  but  little  importance  would  probably  have  been 
attached,  but  for  the  intense  excitement  of  the  times,  brought 
Kirkcaldy  into  direct  conflict  with  John  Knox  himself.  In 
the  beginning  of  December,  Sir  William's  first  cousin,  John 

*  Without  equal  in  this  kingdom. 


n  8  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Kirkcaldy,  the  same  in  whose  quarrel  he  had  fought  with 
Ralph  Evers,  was  called  to  attend  a  justice-court  in 
Dunfermline,  as  a  juryman  on  a  murder  trial.  During 
his  stay  in  the  town,  he  was  attacked,  whilst  peacefully 
going  to  church,  by  George  and  Laurence  Durie,  brothers 
to  the  Commendator  of  the  Abbey,  and  by  several  friends 
of  theirs,  amongst  whom  was  a  young  man  named  Henry 
Seton.  The  immediate  cause  of  the  quarrel  is  not  stated. 
But  the  two  families  stood  on  such  bad  terms  that  a  very 
slight  circumstance  may  have  sufficed  to  give  rise  to  it. 
According  to  Grange's  statement,  the  house  of  Durie  had 
done  many  injuries  to  him  and  his;  and  he  attributed 
the  death  of  his  father-in-law,  the  Laird  of  Raith,  who  had 
been  executed  on  a  charge  of  treason,  to  the  animosity  of 
the  head  of  that  family.  '  Since  that  time,'  he  asserted 
further,  'the  Duries  had  continuallie  troubled  Raith's 
posteritie  and  friends,  in  their  righteous  titles,  native 
estates  and  possessions.'  On  the  present  occasion,  the 
actual  aggressor  was  George  Durie,  who  '  ignominiously 
buffeted  John  Kirkcaldy  with  his  fist.'  When  the  latter 
attempted  to  defend  himself,  he  was  set  upon  by  Laurence 
Durie,  and  Henry  Seton,  and  would,  in  all  probability,  have 
been  killed,  if  the  Provost  had  not  opportunely  interfered. 
A  few  days  later,  Seton,  being  in  Edinburgh,  chanced  to 
meet  some  of  the  Laird  of  Grange's  servants  in  the  streets, 
and  insulted  them,  not  with  words,  but  '  with  jesting  and 
mocking  countenance.'  This  having  been  reported  to  the 
Laird,  he  resolved  to  punish  the  young  man  for  the  double 
offence  of  abetting  the  Duries  and  affronting  the  Kirkcaldys. 
For  this  purpose  he  sent  six  of  his  men  to  Leith,  where 
Seton  was  to  embark  on  his  return  journey  to  the  Fifeshire 
shore,  and  gave  them  instructions  to  administer  a  sound 
castigation  with  cudgels,  but,  on  no  account  to  use  their 
arms.  Finding  himself  suddenly  attacked,  the  young 
man  drew  his  sword,  and  used  it  to  such  good  purpose 
that  one  of  his  assailants  fell  seriously  wounded  to  the 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  119 

ground.  At  the  sight  of  his  blood,  his  companions 
forgot  the  restriction  that  had  been  put  upon  them,  and 
continued  the  fray  with  sharper  weapons.  Out-numbered 
as  he  was,  Seton  might  have  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
boat  that  was  waiting  for  him,  if  he  had  not  unfortunately 
tripped  and  fallen  over  a  cable.  As  he  lay  helpless,  some 
of  the  aggressors  thrust  their  swords  into  him,  and  left 
him  dead  on  the  shore.  After  perpetrating  this  outrage, 
they  retreated  at  full  speed  towards  the  Castle,  closely 
followed  by  a  number  of  the  citizens.  One  of  them 
was  captured  before  reaching  the  North  Loch,  which 
was  frozen  at  the  time,  and  over  which  the  other  four 
succeeded  in  crossing.  Here  the  pursuers  were  held  in 
check  by  the  Captain,  who  having  noticed  the  chase,  had 
come  out  with  a  body  of  soldiers,  and  threatened  to  fire 
if  any  further  attempt  were  made  to  molest  the  fugitives. 
Fleming,  the  one  man  who  had  been  captured,  and  in 
whose  defence  it  was  subsequently  urged  that  he  was  not 
actually  concerned  in  the  murder,  was  lodged  in  the 
Tolbooth  ;  and  his  release  having  been  refused,  Kirkcaldy 
determined  to  take  the  law  into  his  own  hands,  and  to  set 
him  free.  The  Governor  must  still  have  had  many  sym- 
pathisers in  the  city,  for  it  is  stated  that  '  the  deacons  of 
the  crafts  were  easily  persuaded  to  assist  him  in  his  wicked 
enterprise.'  Having  ordered  a  battering-ram  to  be  made 
ready  for  use  against  the  prison  gate,  if  force  should  be 
necessary,  and  got  the  guns  of  the  Castle  loaded  and 
prepared  for  action,  Kirkcaldy,  at  the  head  of  a  strong 
body  of  men,  set  out,  without  noise  or  clamour,  between 
six  and  seven  o'clock,  on  a  dark  evening,  a  few  days 
before  Christmas,  for  the  purpose  of  liberating  James 
Fleming.  Men  armed  with  culverins  and  pikes  were 
posted  so  as  to  prevent  access,  by  any  side  approach,  to 
the  street  leading  from  the  Castle  to  the  prison.  Grange 
and  Lord  Home  stationed  themselves  above  the  Upper 
Tron,  with  the  object  of  securing  a  safe  retreat ;  and  the 


120  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Laird  of  Drylaw  was  sent  forward  to  demand  the  surrender 
of  the  prisoner.  That  having  been  refused  by  the  jailor, 
the  battering-ram  was  brought  forward,  and  the  gates 
were  forced  open.  According  to  reports  circulated  at 
the  time,  the  soldiers  not  only  carried  off  their  comrade 
Fleming,  but  also  set  free  another  prisoner — a  woman — 
probably  Bothwellhaugh's  wife,  who  had  been  appre- 
hended on  a  charge  of  complicity  in  the  murder  of  the 
Regent.  After  Kirkcaldy  and  his  men  had  returned  from 
their  nocturnal  expedition,  'nine  great  cannons  were  dis- 
charged '  from  the  ramparts,  '  to  give  the  Regent  who  was 
then  in  the  town,  a  defiance  in  his  face.'  Fortunately, 
however,  for  the  guns  were  shotted,  '  no  harm  was  done, 
but  that  John  Wallace's  house  was  shot  through,  and  a 
barn  in  the  Cannongate.' 

John  Knox  was  in  Edinburgh  at  the  time ;  and  raised 
his  powerful  voice  in  condemnation  of  '  so  slanderous,  so 
malapert,  so  fearful,  and  so  tyrannous  a  deed.  For,' 
said  he,  '  if  the  committer  had  been  a  man  without  God, 
a  throat-cutter,  one  that  had  never  known  the  works  of 
God,  it  would  have  moved  me  no  more  than  other  riots 
and  enormities  which  my  eyes  have  seen  the  Prince  of 
this  world,  Satan,  to  raise  by  his  instruments.  But  to  see 
the  stars  fall  from  heaven,  and  a  man  of  knowledge  com- 
mit so  manifest  treason,  what  godly  heart  cannot  lament, 
tremble,  and  fear  ?  God  be  merciful !  for  the  example  is 
terrible,  and  we  have  all  need  earnestly  to  call  to  God, 
that  we  be  not  led  into  temptation ;  but  specially  to 
deliver  us  from  the  company  of  the  wicked ;  for,  within 
these  few  years,  men  would  have  looked  for  other  fruits 
than  have  budded  out  of  that  man.' 

As  soon  as  the  Reformer's  rebuke  was  communicated 
to  him,  Kirkcaldy  replied  to  it  in  a  letter  which  he 
addressed  to  Craig,  the  minister  of  the  church,  to  whom 
it  was  delivered  as  he  was  in  his  pulpit.  It  ran  as 
follows  :  '  This  day  John  Knox,  in  his  sermon,  called  me, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  121 

openly,  a  murderer  and  a  throat-cutter,  wherein  he  hath 
spoken  farther  than  he  is  able  to  justify.  For  I  take  God 
to  witness,  if  it  was  my  mind  that  the  man's  blood  should 
have  been  shed,  of  whom  he  calleth  me  the  murderer. 
And  the  same  God  I  desire,  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart, 
to  pour  out  his  vengeance  suddenly  upon  him  or  me, 
which  of  us  two  hath  been  most  desirous  of  innocent 
blood.  This  I  desire  you,  in  God's  name,  to  declare 
openly  to  the  public.  At  Edinburgh  Castle,  the  24th  of 
December  1570.' 

Craig,  however,  refused  to  comply  with  the  request 
contained  in  the  latter  part  of  the  letter,  stating  that  he 
would  read  nothing  from  the  pulpit  without  the  knowledge 
and  consent  of  the  Kirk.  In  another  letter,  which  he 
wrote  to  the  Kirk  Session  of  Edinburgh,  Kirkcaldy  gave 
his  version  of  what  had  happened,  throwing  all  the 
blame  on  the  Duries,  and  protesting  his  innocence  of  any 
intention  to  cause  the  death  of  Seton. 

To  the  first  of  these  letters,  Knox  publicly  made  reply 
on  his  next  appearance  in  the  pulpit,  denying  that  he  had 
ever  made  use  of  the  words  imputed  to  him.  '  Is  there 
any  of  you,'  he  asked,  'that  heard  me,  in  this  public 
place,  call  the  Laird  of  Grange,  now  Captain  of  the 
Castle  of  Edinburgh,  a  cruel  murderer,  an  open  throat- 
cutter,  and  one  whose  nature  I  had  long  known  to  be 
bloodthirsty?  I  accused  indeed,  that  unjust  and  cruel 
murder ;  I  affirmed  the  violating  of  the  house  of  justice 
to  be  treason ;  and  finally  I  complained,  that  the  like 
enormity  and  pernicious  example  I  never  saw  in  Scotland. 
Not  but  I  had  seen  murder  and  rebellion  before;  yea, 
I  have  seen  magistrates  gainstood,  and  the  supreme 
magistrates  of  the  Crown  besieged  in  their  own  tolbooth ; 
and  I  have  seen  condemned  persons  violently  reft  from 
the  gallows  and  gibbet.  But  none  of  all  these  forenamed 
can  be  compared  to  this  last  outrage.  For,  if  the  masters 
and  authors  of  this  last  riot  had  been  known  before  to 


122  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

have  been  open  throat-cutters,  bloodthirsty  men,  and  such 
as  had  been  void  of  the  true  fear  of  God,  I  would  have  been 
no  more  moved  at  this  time,  than  I  have  been  at  other 
times  before.  But,  to  see  stars  fallen  from  Heaven; 
to  see  men  who  have  felt  as  well  God's  judgments  as 
mercies,  in  a  past ;  and  to  .see  men  of  whom  all  godly 
hearts  have  had  a  good  opinion — to  see,  I  say,  such  men 
so  far  carried  away,  that  both  God  and  man  are  not  only 
forgot,  but  also  publicly  despised,  is  both  dolorous  and 
fearful  to  be  remembered.'  Then,  referring  to  Kirk- 
caldy's  escape  from  Mont  Saint-Michel,  the  preacher  con- 
tinued :  '  For  I  have  known  that  man  in  his  greatest 
extremity,  when  he  might  have  set  himself  at  freedom 
by  shedding  of  blood,  at  the  counsel  of  sober  men,  he 
utterly  refused  all  such  cruelty,  and  took  a  hazard  to  the 
flesh  most  fearful;  which  God  notwithstanding  blessed, 
having  a  respect  to  the  simplicity  of  his  heart.  And, 
therefore,  then  I  said,  and  yet  I  say,  that  this  example 
in  him  is  the  most  terrible  example  that  ever  I  saw  in 
Scotland.  I  know  that  some  have  made  other  report. 
But,  in  their  face  I  say,  that  of  their  father  the  Devil 
they  have  learnt  to  lie,  wherein  if  they  continue  without 
repentance,  they  shall  burn  in  Hell.' 

In  a  letter  to  the  Kirk-Session,  Knox  again  denied 
having  called  Kirkcaldy  a  murderer  and  a  cut-throat ;  but 
maintained  that  he  had  only  done  his  duty  in  publicly 
denouncing  a  public  outrage.  Unwilling  to  prolong  the 
controversy,  Kirkcaldy  declared  himself  satisfied  that  the 
words  at  which  he  had  taken  offence  were  uttered  in 
lament,  and  for  amendment  of  his  fault,  and  not  to  his 
hurt,  injury,  or  defamation,  and  formally  withdrew  his 
complaint.  But  Knox  was  not  content  with  a  view  that 
implied  a  recantation  on  his  part ;  and  on  the  following 
Sunday,  when  the  Captain,  after  nearly  a  year's  absence 
from  Divine  Service,  again  appeared  in  St  Giles's,  the 
Reformer,  construing  his  presence  into  an  open  defiance, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  123 

denounced  'proud  contemners,'  and  warned  them  that 
God's  mercy  appertained  not  to  such  as,  with  knowledge, 
proudly  transgressed,  and  thereafter  most  proudly  main- 
tained their  transgression. 

The  excitement  produced  by  an  open  quarrel  between 
two  such  men  as  Knox  and  Kirkcaldy  was  not  confined 
to  the  Capital.  Exaggerated  rumours  were  circulated 
from  town  to  town,  and  in  several  places  there  arose  a 
belief  that  Grange  had  sworn  the  death  of  the  Reformer. 
Acting  on  this,  a  number  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen 
wrote  from  Ayr  to  the  Laird  of  Grange,  to  signify  their 
strong  condemnation  of  his  conduct.  They  could  hardly 
believe,  their  protest  ran,  that  he  who  had  been,  not  a 
simple  professor,  but  a  defender  of  religion,  could  be 
moved  to  do  any  harm  to  him  on  whose  safety  the 
prosperity  and  increase  of  religion  depended;  and  they 
deprecated  any  hostile  design  against  the  man  whom  God 
had  made  both  the  first  planter,  and  also  the  chief  waterer 
of  his  Kirk  amongst  them,  and  whose  welfare  was  as  dear 
and  precious  to  them  as  their  own. 

Kirkcaldy  had  thought  the  incident  of  sufficient  im- 
portance, under  the  existing  circumstances,  to  justify  his 
reporting  it  directly  to  the  English  Government  himself. 
In  replying  to  his  letter,  it  suited  Cecil  to  adopt  the  lofty 
moral  tone  which  he  knew  would  meet  with  the  approval 
of  the  Clerical  party.  After  condemning  the  'heinous 
fact,'  and  expatiating  on  its  guilt  in  one  '  having  a  place 
of  government  committed  to  him,  and  having  for  so  many 
years  made  the  world  think  that  he  professed  the  Evangel,' 
he  closed  his  letter  in  these  sharp  terms  : — '  how  you  will 
allow  my  plainness  I  know  not ;  but  surely  I  should  think 
myself  guilty  of  blood  if  I  should  not  thoroughly  mislike 
you ;  and  to  this  I  must  add,  that  I  hear,  but  yet  am 
loath  to  believe  it,  that  your  soldiers  that  broke  the  prison 
have  not  only  taken  out  the  murderer  your  man,  but  a 
woman  that  was  there  detained  as  guilty  of  the  lamentable 


124  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

death  of  the  late  good  Regent.  Alas  !  my  Lord,  may  this 
be  true1?  And,  with  your  help,  may  it  be  conceived  in 
thought  that  you — you,  I  mean,  that  were  so  dear  to  the 
Regent,  should  favour  his  murderers  in  this  sort.  Surely, 
my  Lord,  if  this  be  true,  there  is  provided  by  God  some 
notable  work  of  His  justice  to  be  shewed  upon  you  ;  and 
yet  I  trust  you  are  not  so  void  of  God's  grace :  and  so 
for  mine  old  friendship  with  you,  and  for  the  avoiding  the 
notable  slander  of  God's  word,  I  heartily  wish  it  to  be 
untrue.' 

Cecil  had  no  reason  to  congratulate  himself  on  having 
given  credence  to  details  for  which  he  had  not  the 
authority  of  Kirkcaldy  himself.  In  reply  to  his  epistle, 
the  Captain  of  the  Castle  was  able  to  inform  him  that  the 
woman,  whose  supposed  escape  had  aroused  his  indigna- 
tion, was  still  in  the  Tolbooth. 


XL    THE  HOLDING  OF  THE  CASTLE 

IN  the  summer  of  1570,  the  treacherous  advice  of  Sussex 
had  been  followed,  and,  under  pretence  of  punishing 
those  who  had  given  shelter  to  the  rebellious  Dacres,  he 
had  been  sent,  with  an  army  of  four  thousand  men,  into 
Annandale,  which  he  ravaged  with  such  remorseless  ferocity 
that,  in  his  own  words,  not  a  stone  house  was  left  to  an 
ill  neighbour  within  twenty  miles  of  Carlisle.  This  un- 
justifiable act  of  aggression  may  be  looked  upon  as  one 
of  the  immediate  causes  that  led  Grange  decisively  and 
irrevocably  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  the  party  which  re- 
fused to  recognise  the  authority  of  Lennox.  A  two 
months'  truce  delayed  what  had  now  become  an  in- 
evitable step  on  his  part  And  even  then,  when  the 
crisis  came,  it  had  been  hurried  on  by  Lennox's  action. 
On  the  i  gth  of  March,  before  the  actual  expiration  of  the 
armistice,  he  caused  proclamation  to  be  made  in  Edin- 
burgh, forbidding,  upon  pain  of  treason,  that  any  should 
serve  Grange,  and  commanding  those  who  were  already 
with  him  to  leave  him  within  three  days.  On  the  same 
afternoon,  Kirkcaldy  retaliated  by  causing  Captain  Mel- 
ville to  go  through  the  town,  with  beat  of  drum,  offering 
pay  to  all  such  as  would  repair  to  the  Castle.  Next  day 
he  took  possession  of  the  Abbey  and  of  St  Giles's,  and  put 
men  and  munitions  into  them.  He  further  levied  provi- 
sions from  the  Leith  merchants,  and  took  every  measure 
of  prudence  and  precaution  that  a  long  military  experience 
suggested,  with  a  view  to  enabling  the  Castle  to  stand  a 
long  siege.  He  was  so  satisfied  with  the  result  of  his 

"5 


126  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

efforts  that  he  indulged  in  a  '  rowstie  ryme '  in  which, 
besides  reviling  his  enemies  and  casting  upon  them  the 
entire  responsibility  for  the  calamities  under  which  the 
country  was  groaning,  he  proudly  set  forth  all  that  he 
had  done  to  resist  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  drive 
him  from  his  stronghold. 

For  I  haue  men  and  meit  aneugh, 
They  know  I  am  ane  tuilyeour  teoch, 

And  wilbe  rycht  sone  greved  : 
When  thei  haue  tint  als  mony  teith, 
As  thei  did  at  the  seige  of  Leith, 

They  wilbe  faine  to  leive  it. 
Then  quha,  I  pray  you,  salbe  boun 

Thair  tinsall  to  advance  ? 
Or  gif  sic  compositione 

As  thei  got  then  of  France  ? 
This  sylit,  begylit, 

They  will  bot  get  the  glaikis ; 
Cum  thai  heir,  thir  tuo  yeir, 

They  sail  not  misse  thair  paikis.* 

On  the  1 3th  of  April,  when,  in  answer  to  his  call,  a 
considerable  number  not  only  of  soldiers,  but  of  powerful 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  also,  had  gathered  about  him, 

*  For  I  have  men  and  meat  enough, 
They  know  I  am  a  fighter  tough, 

And  will  be  right  soon  grieved  ; 
When  they  have  lost  as  many  teeth, 
As  they  did  at  the  siege  of  Leith, 

They  will  be  fain  to  leave  it. 
Then  who,  I  pray  you,  shall  be  bound 

Their  losses  to  make  good  ? 
Or  give  such  composition 

As  they  got  then  of  France? 
Thus  blinded,  beguiled, 

They  will  but  get  a  cheat ; 
Come  they  here,  these  two  years 

They  shall  not  miss  their  thrashing. 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  127 

he  issued  a  proclamation  in  which  he  charged  the  Earl  of 
Lennox  with  having  unlawfully  usurped  the  government 
of  the  kingdom,  and  with  having  unjustifiably  circulated 
calumnies,  injuries,  and  untrue  reports  about  him,  and 
which,  after  declaring  with  pardonable  pride  and  damag- 
ing truth,  that  he  had  risked  his  life  for  Scotland  when 
the  new  Regent  was  against  it,  he  closed  with  a  char- 
acteristic challenge  : — 

'If  anie  gentleman  undefamed,  of  my  qualitie  and 
degree,  of  his  factioun  and  perteaning  to  him,  will  say 
the  contrare  heerof  but  I  am  a  true  Scotish  man,  I  will 
say  he  speeketh  untruelie,  and  leeth  falslie  in  his  throat ; 
and  denounce  by  thir  presents  to  whatsomever  persons 
will  take  the  said  querrell  in  hand,  I  sail  be  readie 
to  fight  with  him  on  horsebacke  or  on  foote,  at  time 
and  place  to  be  appointed,  according  to  the  lawes  of 
armes.' 

When  the  Captain's  preparations  were  complete,  he  set 
himself  to  the  task  of  training  the  garrison.  For  that 
purpose  he  devised  a  sham  assault,  which  the  chronicler 
who  records  it,  ignorant  of  military  matters,  sets  down  as 
a  foolish  skirmish,  and  as  mere  boastful  display.  His 
graphic  description  of  it,  however,  is  interesting  as  a 
quaint  picture  of  mediaeval  warfare.  'The  one  part  of 
the  Captan's  souldiours  tooke  upon  them  to  skirmishe, 
in  manner  of  an  assault  to  the  Castell ;  the  other  part  of 
the  Captan's  gentlemen  took  upon  them  the  defence  and 
keeping  of  the  Castell.  The  skirmishe  continued  from 
eight  houres  at  night  till  nyne.  It  was  demanded  from 
the  Castell,  who  these  were  that  troubled  the  Captan, 
under  silence  of  night?  It  was  answered  by  the  other 
partie  below,  that  they  were  the  Queen  of  England's 
armie.  These  beganne  brawling  and  flytting ;  and  these 
in  the  Castell  answered,  "  Away,  lubbard !  Away,  blew- 
coat !  I  defy  thee,  white-coat ! "  "  Dirt  in  your  teeth  ! " 
"  Hence,  knaves,  and  goe  tell  that  whoore,  your  mastresse. 


128  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

yee  sail  not  come  heere.  We  lett  you  know,  we  have 
men,  meat,  and  ordinance  for  seven  yeeres."  About  the 
end  of  the  skirmishe,  three  cannons  were  discharged, 
and  the  counterfoot  assaulters  tooke  the  flight.' 

That  no  misrepresentation  of  the  course  which  he  had 
been  driven  into  adopting  should  supply  the  English 
Government  with  a  pretext  for  laying  the  resumption  of 
hostilities  to  his  charge,  Kirkcaldy  wrote  a  full  justifica- 
tion of  his  conduct  to  Sussex,  Leicester,  and  Burghley.  It 
ran  as  follows :  '  I  have  received  your  letter,  dated  at 
Westminster  the  yth  of  this  instant,  and  thereby  under- 
stand that  your  Lordships  have,  upon  the  sight  of  my 
letters  and  the  Marshal  of  Berwick's  report,  rightly  con- 
ceived my  meaning  touching  the  pacification  of  these 
inward  troubles  and  continuation  of  the  amity  between 
these  two  realms,  which  course  I  intend  still  to  follow 
further,  so  far  as  I  may  conveniently.  I  greatly  mislike 
that  a  part  of  this  nobility  should  go  about  by  all  means 
to  destroy  the  other ;  and  would  wish  that  on  both  parts 
they  should  moderate  their  passions,  being  content  every 
one  of  his  own  rank  and  degree,  and  not  seek  by  extra- 
ordinary means  one  to  overthrow  the  other.  As  to  the 
amity  between  the  realms,  if  any  occasion  has  fallen  out 
of  late  time,  or  shall  fall  out  hereafter,  which  may 
disturb,  change,  or  diminish  the  intelligence  happily 
begun,  I  protest  that  I  have  detested,  and  shall  detest 
such  as  are  the  occasioners  thereof;  and  wish  that  your 
Lordships  hold  hand  to  remove  all  such  incidents  as  may 
breed  a  misliking  on  your  part ;  the  best  whereunto  is  to 
procure  that  the  Queen's  Majesty,  your  sovereign,  hold 
the  balance  equal  to  both  the  sides,  showing  like  favour 
and  good  countenance  to  both,  so  that  neither  party  may 
think  themselves  prejudged  till  the  difference  for  the 
title  for  the  Crown  may  by  her  means  be  compounded, 
or  brought  to  an  end.  For  my  own  part,  the  Earl  of 
Lennox  (whom  I  never  thought  a  fit  person  to  bear  any 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  129 

rule,  for  the  great  imperfections  which  are  known  to  be 
in  him)  has  so  ungently,  unreasonably  and  unlawfully 
used  me,  that  he  has  compelled  me  to  provide  for  my 
own  security,  and  of  the  place  which  I  have  in  charge, 
and  to  stand  upon  my  guard  with  him.  Besides  many 
injuries  and  wrongs  which  he  before  had  done,  against 
all  good  order,  to  me  and  my  friends,  whereat  I  partly 
winked,  and  lightly  overlooked  them,  he  has  of  late 
charged  by  open  proclamations,  that  all  the  soldiers 
which  I  keep  for  the  preservation  of  this  place,  do  depart 
from  me  and  leave  my  service,  by  which  doing  he  has 
uttered  his  ill-will  and  intention  he  had  to  denude  me  of 
my  forces,  whereby  the  place,  for  lack  of  men  to  defend 
it,  might  fall  as  a  prey  in  his  hands.  And  when  he  saw 
that  his  commands  in  that  behalf  were  not  obeyed,  his 
malice  has  burst  out  further,  to  set  further  false  and 
calumnious  proclamations  against  me,  full  of  injurious 
language,  such  as  neither  he  nor  any  of  his  faction  dare 
maintain,  thinking  thereby  to  have  made  me  odious  to 
the  people.  But  my  behaviour  in  times  past,  and  hazard- 
ing of  my  person  and  goods,  for  the  liberty  of  my  country 
and  duty  to  my  friends  is  so  well  known  in  Scotland,  that 
I  am  not  afraid  that  anything  the  Earl  of  Lennox  or  his 
faction  can  speak  or  do,  who  has  not  as  yet  given  the  like 
proof,  may  make  men  that  know  me  to  doubt  of  my 
honesty.  Since  he  has  made  open  demonstration  to  be  my 
enemy,  I  could  do  no  less  than  let  him  know  the  like  of  me, 
and  so  have  been  forced  to  join  myself  with  such  of  the 
nobility  as  would  concur  with  me,  and  provide  every  way 
for  my  own  surety,  wherein  I  doubt  not  but  your  Lord- 
ships will  not  only  bear  with  me,  but  also  allow  of  my 
doings. 

'  For  nature  teaches  both  men  and  beasts  to  procure 
means  for  their  own  preservation,  and  to  avoid  all  things 
tending  to  the  contrary.  And  yet  I  dare  undertake,  if 
it  shall  please  the  Queen's  Majesty  your  mistress,  to  pro- 

i 


130  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

secute  the  course  she  has  begun,  for  according  the  differ- 
ence for  the  title  of  the  Crown,  and  to  show  her  favour 
in  the  mean  season  indifferently  to  both  parties,  that 
number  of  noblemen,  with  whom  I  have  joined  myself, 
shall  be  as  far  at  her  Majesty's  devotion,  and  as  able 
every  way,  and  as  willing,  to  entertain  the  good  in- 
telligence between  the  realms  as  any  others ;  and,  indeed, 
they  are  no  less  able  to  serve  her  Majesty's  turn.  As  to 
the  abstinence  mentioned  in  your  Lordships'  letter,  I 
shall  willingly  accommodate  myself  to  everything  ac 
corded  between  the  Commissioners  for  both  parties,  not 
only  in  the  order  of  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  but  all 
other  things  lying  in  my  power;  and  shall  attempt 
nothing  farther  than  the  surety  of  myself  and  place  I 
have  in  charge  shall  force  me,  unless  the  others  attempt 
to  do  injury  to  me  or  my  friends,  in  which  case  the  Earl 
of  Lennox  shall  have  no  cause  to  look  for  quietness,  if 
he  make  occasion  to  me  and  my  friends  to  stand  in 
doubt  of  our  own  surety ;  for  I  am  resolved  to  use  him 
as  he  shall  do  me  and  my  friends.  I  have  seen  hereto- 
fore how  the  former  abstinences  have  been  kept  on  his 
part,  and  I  know  what  harm  my  friends  have  sustained 
under  the  colour  thereof;  so  that  I  would  look  for  little 
better  at  his  hand  now,  were  not  the  trust  I  repose  in  her 
Majesty,  who  I  doubt  not  will  overrule  him  and  bridle 
him  from  disordered  doings ;  upon  the  confidence 
whereof,  her  Majesty  shall  have  experience  what  rever- 
ence I  bear  to  her  Highness,  and  how  far  I  respect  your 
Lordships'  advice.  As  to  the  common  quietness  in  the 
town  of  Edinburgh,  and  people  therein,  I  assure  myself 
none  of  them  will  complain ;  for  of  truth,  there  is  no 
man  within  the  compass  of  the  same  has  received  injury 
or  violence,  by  word  or  deed,  of  me  or  any  of  mine ; 
whereof  I  desire  your  Lordships  to  assure  her  Majesty. 
So,  not  willing  to  trouble  your  Lordships  farther,  I 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  131 

commit  your  Lordships  to  the  protection  of  the  Almighty 
God.     From  Edinburgh  Castle,  the  2ist  of  April  1571. 
Your  Lordships'  to  command, 

W.  KIRKCALDY.' 

Hostilities  between  the  garrison  of  the  Castle  and  the 
Regent's  forces,  which  were  encamped  at  Leith,  began 
on  the  2  gth  of  April,  with  a  skirmish  at  Lowsilea.  Next 
day,  Kirkcaldy  issued  a  proclamation,  commanding  all 
who  sympathised  with  Lennox,  to  leave  the  city  within 
six  hours,  and  requiring  the  citizens  to  be  within  doors, 
after  nine  o'clock  every  night.  Two  days  later,  he  fol- 
lowed this  up  by  demanding  the  keys  of  the  city  from 
the  bailies,  and  setting  his  own  men  to  guard  the  gates ; 
and  his  next  step  was  to  plant  artillery  on  the  roof  and 
steeple  of  St  Giles's. 

About  the  beginning  of  May,  the  Regent  made  an 
attempt  to  hold  a  Parliament,  but  was  driven  off  by  the 
Castle  guns.  On  learning  this,  Queen  Elizabeth  made 
a  great  show  of  indignation.  It  was  '  necessary  for  her 
that  the  Regent  and  his  party  should  not  be  ruined.' 
Nor,  indeed,  did  it  suit  her  that  either  faction  should 
obtain  the  upper  hand  independently  of  her.  She  con- 
sequently directed  Sir  William  Drury  to  tell  Grange  and 
the  noblemen  joined  with  him,  that  she  strongly  dis- 
approved of  their  conduct  in  preventing  the  Regent  and 
his  friends  from  holding  a  Parliament  to  appoint  com- 
missioners to  treat  with  those  of  the  Queen  of  Scots. 
In  energetic  language  she  desired  him  to  'condemn 
Kirkcaldy  of  falsehood  and  untruth'  if  it  were  actually 
the  case  that  he  had  said,  as  had  been  reported  to  her, 
that  Lennox  was  '  sworn  English  against  his  country,' 
and  meant  to  deliver  all  the  castles  and  strongholds  to 
her ;  and  to  require  him  to  give  her  full  satisfaction  on 
this  point.  She  further  instructed  him  to  inform  the 


132  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

Captain  that,  if  he  continued  to  increase  the  troubles  of 
the  realm,  she  would  'judge  that  to  be  true  which,  by 
some  had  been  long  doubted,  that  he  and  his  companions 
were  partially  disposed,  for  their  own  lucre  and  to  main- 
tain their  disordered  authorities,  to  continue  these  in- 
ward troubles,  by  pretending  to  favour  the  Queen,  with 
whom  it  was  known  that,  before  time,  they  could  not  be 
content.'  If  this  should  not  be  enough,  Drury  was  to 
add  "  some  sharper  speech  "  of  his  own. 

In  his  reply  to  this  communication,  Kirkcaldy  assured 
the  Queen  of  England  that  his  enemies  had  misreported 
him.  Had  it  really  been  the  intention  of  Lennox  and  his 
party  to  choose  persons  authorised  to  carry  on  the 
negotiations  referred  to  by  her  Highness,  he  would  have 
given  them  free  access  to  Edinburgh.  But  he  had  been 
told  by  Morton  himself,  that  '  the  treaty  was  dissolved  in 
England,  and  clean  cut  off  without  any  promise  of  abstin- 
ence, or  hope  of  recontinuation.'  He  pointed  out  that,  if 
the  Lords  did  not  get  entrance  into  the  town,  they,  never- 
theless, did  hold  a  Parliament  outside  the  walls ;  and,  as 
they  did  not  then  appoint  commissioners,  he  concluded 
that  it  had  never  been  their  object  to  do  so.  He  denied 
ever  having  told  the  people,  in  his  proclamations,  that 
Lennox  was  '  sworn  English  against  his  country  ; '  but  he 
admitted  that,  in  private  conversation,  he  had  said  that 
the  Earl  was  the  Queen  of  England's  subject  by  oath. 
Again  protesting  his  pacific  intentions,  his  unselfish  aims, 
and  his  respect  for  Elizabeth,  he  offered  to  do  battle 
against  any  gentleman  undefamed,  of  England  or  Scot- 
land, who  dared  charge  him  with  having  written  or 
uttered  any  word  against  her  honour. 

Elizabeth  admitted  that  Grange's  reply  was  not  un- 
reasonable, and  that  she  did  not  mislike  it.  In  truth, 
she  found  it  admirably  suited  to  her  purpose.  On  the 
strength  of  its  conciliatory  tone,  she  could  approach 
Lennox,  and  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  him,  by  declaring 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  133 

that  his  opponents  were  ready  to  accept  her  mediation, 
and  by  making  him  responsible  for  the  continuance  of 
hostilities,  unless  he,  too,  consented  to  submit  the  whole 
quarrel  to  her  arbitration.  It  was  in  this  sense  that,  on 
the  7th  of  June,  she  addressed  another  long  letter  of 
instructions  to  Sir  William  Drury. 

Apart  from  a  series  of  sorties  and  raids,  which  con- 
temporary chroniclers  faithfully  record,  with  scrupulous 
minuteness,  even,  at  times,  to  the  names  of  the  wounded, 
and  the  nature  of  their  hurts,  no  incident  of  special  interest 
marked  the  civil  war  till  the  nth  of  June.  On  that  day 
Kirkcaldy,  to  whose  knowledge  it  had  come  that  he  had 
publicly  been  accused  of  being  a  traitor  and  a  murderer, 
issued  a  public  challenge,  offering  to  fight,  in  single  com- 
bat, and  to  the  death,  any  man,  of  whatsoever  estate 
he  might  be,  who  took  it  on  himself  to  support  such  a 
charge.  It  was  taken  up  by  Alexander  Stuart  of  Garlics. 
He  ridiculed  the  style  assumed  by  Grange — a  style  more 
befitting  the  chief  nobility  or  even  the  Royal  Blood,  than 
one  whose  father  had  but  eight  ox-gangs,  and  whose  pro- 
genitors were,  for  the  most  part,  saltmakers.  '  Nevertheless,' 
he  continued,  '  although  thou  art  so  notorious  a  traitor, 
that  this  action  should  be  decided  by  other  judges  than  by 
the  adventure  of  arms,  I,  Alexander  Stuart  of  Garlics,  will 
offer  myself  to  prove  thy  vile  and  filthy  treason  with  my 
person  against  thine,  as  the  law  and  custom  of  arms 
requireth :  with  protestation,  that  it  shall  not  be  pre- 
judicial to  my  honour,  nor  to  my  blood,  to  compare  my- 
self with  so  late  a  printed  gentleman,  manifestly  known 
to  have  committed,  at  sundry  times,  divers  treasons ;  and 
taken  out  of  the  galleys  to  be  kept  for  the  gallows.' 

There  ensued  a  long  correspondence  between  Grange 
and  Garlics.  Stripped  of  the  accusations,  recriminations, 
and  contemptuous  allusions  to  birth  and  rank,  it  resolved 
itself  into  a  wrangle  as  to  the  choice  of  a  fitting  place  for 
the  encounter.  Neither  party  would  accept  the  views  of 


134  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

the  other  as  to  a  sufficiently  neutral  ground ;  and  after 
dragging  through  many  weeks,  the  quarrel  was  left  un- 
decided. 

In  the  meantime,  Grange  had  figured  in  a  less  personal 
and  more  important  incident.  Under  his  auspices,  the 
Queen's  Lords,  to  whom  he  delivered  the  regalia  for  the 
occasion,  held  a  Parliament  in  Edinburgh.  Their  first  act 
was  to  invalidate  Mary's  abdication,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
to  repudiate  the  transfer  of  the  royal  authority  to  her  son 
and  the  Regent  acting  on  his  behalf.  The  next  was  to 
decree  that  no  change  should  be  made  in  the  form  of 
religion  or  administration  of  the  sacraments.  At  a  sub- 
sequent sitting,  they  pronounced  a  decree  of  forfeiture 
against  the  Earl  of  Morton  and  some  two  hundred  of  the 
King's  party.  In  retaliation,  the  King's  Lords,  in  a 
Parliament  of  their  own,  held  at  Stirling,  dealt  in  the  same 
manner  with  their  opponents.  But  their  meeting  was  to 
be  marked  by  an  event  of  far  greater  moment.  Grange, 
who  had  been  informed  of  their  imprudent  negligence  in 
not  even  appointing  guards  to  insure  their  safety,  planned 
a  daring  expedition,  of  which  the  object  was  nothing  less 
than  the  capture  of  all  the  leading  men  of  the  faction, 
including  the  Regent  himself. 

It  was  at  first  Kirkcaldy's  intention  to  conduct  the  raid 
in  person.  But  the  Lords  and  Council  would  not  allow 
him,  alleging  that  '  their  only  comfort  under  God  con- 
sisted in  his  preservation.'  They  undertook  scrupulously 
to  follow  his  instructions,  and  at  his  earnest  request, 
promised  to  respect  the  lives  of  the  captives.  He 
yielded  to  their  urgent  entreaties,  but  not  till  the  Laird 
of  Wormeston,  one  of  the  most  honourable  gentlemen  of 
the  party,  had  pledged  his  word  to  save  the  Regent's  life 
at  every  risk. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  3rd 
of  September,  Huntly,  accompanied  with  three  hundred  and 
forty  horse,  set  out  from  Edinburgh,  and  reached  Stirling 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  135 

before  day-break.  Dismounting  about  a  mile  from  the 
town,  lest  the  clattering  of  the  horses'  feet  should  betray 
them,  the  party  entered  it  by  a  secret  passage,  between 
four  and  five  in  the  morning.  Lennox  and  his  friends 
were  surprised  in  their  houses  and  captured.  They 
would  have  been  brought  safely  to  Edinburgh  if  the 
soldiers  and  Borderers  had  not  fallen  to  spoiling.  The 
disorder  which  followed  enabled  the  enemy  to  rally. 
There  was  a  sharp  skirmish,  in  the  course  of  which 
the  Regent  was  shot.  Wormeston  had  proved  so  faith- 
ful to  his  trust  that  the  fatal  bullet  passed  through  his 
body  before  striking  Lennox. 

The  assailants  were  ultimately  obliged  to  retire,  but 
not  till  they  had  held  possession  of  the  town  for  more 
than  three  hours.  On  their  return  to  Edinburgh,  they 
were  very  unwelcome  guests  to  the  Laird  of  Grange. 
He  was  convinced  that  if,  by  bringing  the  Regent  to 
Edinburgh,  he  had  been  able  to  withdraw  him  from 
the  influence  of  Morton  and  of  the  English  agent 
Randolph,  an  end  might  have  been  put  to  the  dis- 
astrous struggle.  With  the  death  of  Murray  a  peaceful 
settlement  became  well  nigh  hopeless. 

Captain  George  Bell  and  James  Calder,  who  had  been 
taken  prisoners  on  the  retreat  from  Stirling,  were  by 
torture,  compelled  to  confess  that  they  had  special 
instructions  from  the  Hamiltons  to  slay  the  Regent. 
Calder's  confession  is  significantly  signed  'James  Calder 
with  my  hand  laid  on  the  pen  because  I  cannot  write.' 
In  a  very  remarkable  letter  addressed  by  Grange  and 
Lethington  to  Drury,  the  blame  of  Lennox's  death  is 
imputed  to  his  own  associates,  who  are  accused  of  using 
the  opportunity  given  by  the  tumult  for  obtaining  that 
which  they  had  long  sought  after.  The  writers  not  only 
point  out  that  the  Hamiltons,  whom  the  Regent  had  the 
greatest  cause  to  fear,  were  those  who  surprised  him 
in  his  house,  and  that  they  might  have  taken  his  life 


136  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

then  and  there;  but  they  also  assert  that  they  them- 
selves had  previously  been  urged  to  concur  in  Murray's 
destruction. 

Within  twenty-four  hours  a  new  Regent  was  appointed. 
Randolph  was  anxious  that  the  choice  of  the  Lords 
should  fall  on  Morton,  but  they  preferred  to  elect  the 
Earl  of  Mar. 


XII.     THE  MERCAT  CROSS 

THE  Earl  of  Mar's  Regency  lasted  a  little  over  a  year, 
— from  the  beginning  of  September  1571  to  the  2gth  of 
October  1572.  The  secret  history  of  the  period  is  con- 
tained in  a  long  series  of  communications  between 
Elizabeth  and  her  Ministers  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
heads  of  the  two  contending  parties  on  the  other.  The 
subject  was  still  the  pacification  of  the  Kingdom ;  but  the 
discovery  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  plot,  in  favour  of 
Mary  Stuart,  had  modified  the  English  Queen's  policy 
with  respect  to  the  Castilians,  as  the  holders  of  the 
Castle  were  termed.  It  supplied  her  with  a  plausible 
excuse  for  casting  aside  even  the  semblance  of  a  desire 
to  reinstate  her  captive;  and  the  spirit  in  which  the 
negotiations  with  Grange  and  Lethington  were  conducted 
is  illustrated  by  the  following  summons  delivered  to  them 
in  her  name : — '  Her  Majesty's  pleasure  is,  that  ye  leave 
off  the  maintenance  of  civil  discord,  and  give  your 
obedience  to  the  King,  whom  she  will  maintain  to 
the  uttermost  of  her  power.  And  if  ye  will  so  do,  she 
will  deal  with  the  Regent  and  the  King's  party  to  receive 
you  in  favour,  upon  reasonable  conditions,  for  security 
of  life  and  livings.  In  respect  the  Queen  of  Scots  hath 
practised  with  the  Pope,  other  Princes,  and  her  own 
subjects,  great  and  dangerous  treasons  against  the  state 
of  the  country,  and  destruction  of  her  own  person,  she 
will  never  suffer  her  to  be  in  authority,  so  far  as  in  her 
lieth ;  nor  to  have  liberty  while  she  liveth.  If  ye  refuse 
these  offers,  her  Majesty  will  presently  aid  the  King's 


138  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

party  with  men,  munition,  and  other  things  against 
you.  Whereupon  her  Majesty  desireth  your  answer 
with  speed.' 

In  the  meantime,  hostilities  were  being  carried  on  with 
the  greatest  ferocity  by  both  factions.  As  Bannatyne 
reports,  there  was  'nothing  but  hanging  on  either  side.' 
The  chronicles  and  the  correspondence  of  the  time  record, 
as  common  occurrences,  the  most  cold-blooded  atrocities. 
It  is  related  in  the  Historic  of  King  James  the  Sext, 
that  a  band  of  Queen's  soldiers  from  Edinburgh  were 
attacked  by  a  body  of  the  King's  partisans,  to  whom 
they  were  obliged  to  surrender  and  give  up  their 
weapons.  'But  the  horsemen  of  Leith,  after  they  had 
received  them  as  prisoners,  slew  fifteen  of  the  most  able 
and  strong  men  of  them ;  the  remainder  they  drove  to 
Leith  like  sheep,  stabbing  and  dunting  them  with  spears, 
where  they  were  all  hanged  without  further  process.' 
Randolph  reported  to  Lord  Hunsdon  that  nothing  was 
left  undone  on  either  side  that  might  annoy  the  other, 
that  the  Regent,  to  keep  the  Castilians  from  victuals,  had 
placed  men  in  Craigmillar,  Redshawe,  and  Corstorphine, 
and  had  broken  down  all  the  mills  to  the  number  of  thirty 
or  more  within  four  miles  of  Edinburgh,  and  that  he  had 
sent  three  hundred  Highland  men  to  the  villages  and 
cottages  about  the  town  to  intercept  and  spoil  all  that 
attempted  to  repair  to  the  Castle.  Those  of  the  other 
side  made  reprisals  by  hanging  not  only  the  prisoners 
whom  they  had  received  to  mercy,  but  those  who  after- 
wards fell  into  their  hands.  Lord  Hunsdon  informed 
Elizabeth  that  four  horsemen  of  the  Castle  having  been 
taken  in  a  skirmish,  were  immediately  hanged ;  and  that 
those  of  the  Castle,  for  revenge,  after  dinner,  hanged  five 
of  their  opponents.  When  fuel  was  scarce  in  the  town, 
the  garrison  of  the  Castle  threw  down  several  houses  of 
the  adverse  faction,  and  sold  the  timber  at  an  exorbitant 
price.  They  further  appointed  a  functionary,  nick-named 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  139 

by  the  populace  the  Captain  of  the  Chimneys,  to  take 
account  of  such  houses  as  had  been  abandoned  by  King's 
men,  and  sell  them  by  public  auction.  These  stern  pro- 
ceedings so  terrified  the  neutral  citizens,  that  they  fled  to 
Leith ;  but  instead  of  finding  protection  there  they  were 
driven  back  to  the  Capital,  and  threatened  with  the  gibbet 
as  spies.  So  strictly  were  supplies  to  the  city  prohibited 
that  the  country  people  who  attempted  to  smuggle  in 
provisions  were  barbarously  put  to  death.  Two  men  and 
one  woman,  from  Wester  Edmonstoune,  were  hanged  for 
bringing  leeks  and  salt  to  Edinburgh.  Lethington,  writing 
to  Queen  Mary,  told  her  that  when  poor  women  hazarded, 
during  the  night,  to  bring  in  some  victuals  for  them- 
selves and  their  poor  bairns,  they  were  hanged  without 
mercy. 

'  By  that  way,'  he  said,  'they  have  hangit  a  great  number 
of  women,  and  some  of  them  with  bairn,  and  parted  with 
bairn  upon  the  gallows,  a  cruelty  not  heard  of  in  any 
country.'  If  both  parties  displayed  the  same  vindictive 
spirit  in  the  commission  of  these  outrages,  the  voice  of 
the  people  by  whom  '  this  form  of  dealing  was  called  the 
Douglas  wars,'  proclaimed  the  guilt  of  Morton  as  the 
originator  of  them. 

That  Grange  and  his  friends  were  not  responsible  for 
continuing  the  disastrous  struggle,  even  the  English 
agents  admitted.  Lord  Hunsdon,  writing  to  Burghley, 
about  the  end  of  April,  confessed  that  it  passed  his 
capacity  any  more  to  deal  with  the  parties  in  Scotland. 
'  The  Castle  side,'  he  said,  '  require  surety  of  their  lives, 
lands,  goods,  and  honours,  where  they  have  reason ;  and 
the  keeping  of  the  Castle,  because  they  would  be  loath 
to  put  themselves  into  their  new  reconciled  friends'  hands 
until  they  see  some  proof  how  they  and  their  friends  will 
be  dealt  with.  On  the  King's  side,  their  malice  is  so 
deadly  against  some  of  the  Castle  as  they  have  more 
respect  to  be  revenged  than  regard  to  the  Commonwealth; 


140  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

others  are  so  resolved  to  keep  such  offices,  spoils,  and 
authority  as  they  possess  by  these  troubles,  that  they  will 
never  agree  to  any  composition  by  treaty ;  the  meaner 
sort  who  live  upon  entertainment  and  such  spoils  as  now 
and  then  they  can  get,  and  live  uncontrolled  of  any  what- 
soever they  do,  cannot  abide  to  hear  of  peace.' 

For  the  next  three  months  negotiations  still  dragged 
on.  Neither  threats  nor  persuasions  could  induce 
Kirkcaldy  to  consent  to  the  one  condition  without 
which  his  opponents  were  determined  that  there  should 
be  no  peace — the  surrender  of  the  Castle.  In  an  evil 
hour  for  themselves  however,  he  and  Lethington  so  far 
yielded  to  the  representations  and  solicitations  of  the 
English  Court  as  to  agree  to  a  truce.  The  conditions 
were  that  it  should  last  for  two  months  from  the  3oth 
of  July ;  that,  during  that  time  there  should  be  a  meeting 
of  the  noblemen  of  the  Kingdom  to  treat  for  peace ;  and 
that,  if  they  should  not  agree,  they  should  refer  the 
difference  between  them  to  the  arbitration  of  the  King 
of  France  and  Queen  of  England,  promising  upon  their 
honour  to  accept  all  the  conditions  their  Majesties  should 
propose  to  them.  During  the  truce  all  the  subjects  of 
the  realm  should  be  at  liberty  freely  to  traffic,  haunt,  or 
converse  together  unmolested.  The  town  of  Edinburgh 
was  to  be  set  at  liberty  the  same  as  it  was  when  the  late 
Regent  quitted  it  on  the  27th  of  January  1570  ;  and  the 
Castle  to  be  kept  with  no  greater  garrison  than  it  had  at 
that  date. 

On  the  nth  of  the  following  month  Grange  and 
Lethington  had  already  ground  for  complaint  that, 
contrary  to  promise,  '  the  town  was  still  guarded  and 
garrisoned  as  a  town  of  war.'  A  few  days  later  they 
drew  up  a  formal  protest  in  which  they  stated  that  the 
Capital  was  occupied  by  companies  of  soldiers  and  towns- 
men, who  kept  watch  and  ward  day  and  night,  and  con- 
tinually used  the  Kirk  and  Tolbooth  as  guard-houses. 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  141 

Leith  also,  they  said,  was  guarded  as  in  time  of  war,  in 
contravention  of  the  abstinence.  Men-at-arms  were  lodged 
upon  the  poor,  to  be  fed  at  their  expense ;  and  in  many 
cases  the  inhabitants  were  forbidden  to  enter  their  own 
houses,  which  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  the 
soldiery. 

In  the  beginning  of  September,  a  new  agent,  Killegrew, 
was  dispatched  to  Scotland  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of 
effecting  a  compromise  between  the  two  parties,  but  in 
reality  with  a  view  to  arranging  with  Morton  for  the  secret 
execution  of  Queen  Mary.  All  that  his  intervention 
achieved  was  the  prolongation  of  the  truce  till  the  ist  of 
January.  The  result  of  his  secret  mission,  however,  was 
to  secure  the  complicity  of  Mar  and  Morton  in  Elizabeth's 
scheme  for  the  destruction  of  her  rival,  on  condition  that 
they  should  receive  help  from  England  for  the  subjugation 
of  the  Castilians,  at  the  expiration  of  the  truce. 

When  Killegrew  arrived  in  Scotland,  the  Earl  of  Mar 
was  lying  ill  at  Tantallon  Castle,  and  it  was  there  the 
English  ambassador  had  his  first  interview  with  him.  He 
recovered  sufficiently  to  be  removed  to  Stirling.  On  the 
27th  of  October,  it  was  reported  to  Burghley  that  he  had 
been  bled,  and  was  '  somewhat  amended.'  The  very  next 
day,  however,  he  died,  with  a  suddenness  that  gave  rise 
to  a  suspicion  of  poison.  Rather  less  than  a  month  later, 
Morton  was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 

The  day  that  the  new  Regent  was  elected,  there 
occurred  another  important  event,  which  was  destined 
to  exercise  great  influence  on  Kirkcaldy's  fate.  On  that 
same  24th  of  November,  John  Knox  died  in  Edinburgh, 
to  which  he  had  returned  shortly  before  in  a  sinking  con- 
dition. As  he  lay  on  his  death-bed  he  desired  his  friend, 
David  Lindsay,  the  minister  of  Leith,  to  take  a  message 
from  him  to  the  Laird  of  Grange.  "  '  Go,  I  pray  you,'  he 
said,  '  and  tell  him  that  I  have  sent  you  to  him  yet  once 
to  warn  him ;  and  bid  him,  in  the  name  of  God,  leave 


142  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

that  evil  cause,  and  give  over  that  Castle.  If  not,  he 
shall  be  brought  down  over  the  walls  of  it  with  shame, 
and  hang  against  the  sun.  So  God  hath  assured  me.' 
Mr  David  thought  the  message  hard,  yet  went  to  the 
Castle,  and  meeteth  first  with  Sir  Robert  Melville  walking 
on  the  wall,  and  told  him  what  was  his  errand ;  who,  as 
he  thought,  was  much  moved  with  the  matter.  There- 
after he  communed  with  the  Captain,  whom  he  thought 
also  somewhat  moved.  But  he  went  from  him  in  to 
Secretary  Lethington,  with  whom,  when  he  had  conferred 
a  little,  he  came  out  to  Mr  David  again,  and  said,  '  Go, 
tell  Mr  Knox  he  is  but  a  drytting  prophet.'  Mr  David 
returned  to  Mr  Knox  and  reported  how  he  had  discharged 
his  commission ;  but  that  it  was  not  well  accepted  of  the 
Captain  after  he  had  conferred  with  the  Secretary.  'Well,' 
said  Mr  Knox,  '  I  have  been  earnest  with  my  God  anent 
the  two  men.  For  the  one,  I  am  sorry  that  so  shall  befall 
him,  yet  God  assureth  me  that  there  is  mercy  for  his  soul. 
For  the  other,  I  have  no  warrant  that  ever  he  shall  be 
well.'  Mr  David  thought  the  speech  hard,  yet  laid  it  up 
in  his  mind  till  Mr  Knox  was  at  rest  with  God,  and 
found  the  truth  which  he  had  spoken  within  a  few  days 
after." 

When  the  last  day  of  the  truce  arrived,  no  step  towards 
the  pacification  of  the  Kingdom  had  been  taken.  The 
King's  party  continued  to  make  demands  which  the 
Castilians,  hopeful  of  help  from  the  King  of  France, 
absolutely  refused  to  entertain,  and  the  resumption  of 
hostilities  was  inevitable.  On  the  ist  of  January,  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  Kirkcaldy  'warned  all  men  to 
take  heed  to  themselves,  by  a  shot  of  a  piece  out  of  the 
Castle.'  A  little  later  in  the  morning,  'the  war  began 
by  shot  of  arquebuss,  but  did  no  harm.'  Next  day  the 
Castilians  fired  eight  rounds  at  the  steeple  of  St  Giles's. 
No  one  was  hurt  in  the  church  itself,  but  some  shot  that 
missed  it,  having  broken  down  the  neighbouring  chimneys, 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  143 

one  poor  man  was  killed  and  two  were  wounded  by  their 
fall.  If  Killegrew's  reports  to  Burghley  are  to  be  believed, 
either  the  Castle  gunners  must  have  been  poor  marksmen, 
or  Grange  must  at  first  have  instructed  them  to  discharge 
their  artillery  rather  in  the  hope  of  frightening  the  citizens 
than  for  the  purpose  of  causing  them  serious  loss  or  injury. 
One  despatch  states  that  on  the  i6th  of  January  they 
fired  eighty-seven  cannon  and  culverin  shot  at  the  town, 
'  but  did  no  more  harm  but  killed  one  dog  going  to  the 
Regent's  house.'  Men,  women,  and  children,  the  writer 
asserts,  walked  quietly  in  the  streets,  as  though  there  were 
no  shot ;  and  even  went  to  the  church,  which  had  been 
fenced  in  with  a  rampart  of  turf,  faggots,  and  other  stuff. 
One  of  the  chroniclers,  on  the  other  hand,  presents  a 
wholly  different  picture.  '  None,'  he  says,  '  might  walk 
safely  on  the  streets  of  Edinburgh  for  shooting  out  of  the 
Castle.'  The  truth  may  not  improbably  be  that  the 
gunners  could  fire  effectively  enough  when  it  was  thought 
there  was  occasion  for  it. 

Before  the  end  of  the  first  month  the  besieged  were 
already  beginning  to  suffer  from  want  of  water.  On  the 
25th,  Killegrew  informed  Burghley  that  they  had  found 
it  necessary  to  get  their  supply  by  sallying  out  of  a 
postern  beside  St  Cuthbert's  Church  and  drawing  it  from 
St  Margaret's  well,  hard  by.  The  besiegers,  noticing 
this,  poisoned  the  well  with  white  arsenic  and  new  lime 
stones,  and  filled  it  up  with  dead  carrion.  The  garrison 
then  devised  a  plan  for  drawing  water  out  of  a  ditch  near 
the  Castle;  but  before  it  could  be  put  into  execution, 
the  Regent  was  informed  of  it  by  a  deserter,  and  drained 
the  ditch.  In  the  same  communication,  Killegrew  stated 
that  the  surveyor  of  Berwick  and  Mr  Fleming,  the  master- 
gunner,  had  been  with  the  besiegers  for  the  last  week,  and 
were  helping  Morton  to  lay  out  the  trenches,  of  which  the 
works  were  progressing  apace. 

It   was   not   to  open  warfare  alone   that   Kirkcaldy's 


M4  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

enemies  trusted  to  force  him  into  subjection.  Even 
before  the  resumption  of  hostilities,  Morton  had  begun 
negotiations  with  the  Queen's  Lords  in  other  parts  of 
the  country.  One  after  another,  the  Captain's  former 
associates  fell  away  from  him.  Sir  James  Balfour  was  the 
first,  Argyle,  Huntly,  Chastelherault,  and  the  Hamiltons 
followed;  and  their  submission  made  it  hopeless  and 
useless  for  the  lesser  men  to  stand  out  alone.  By  the 
beginning  of  April,  the  Privy  Council  was  able  to 
announce  that  'good  peace  was  restored  over  all  the 
country,  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh  excepted.' 

From  another  quarter  too,  there  fell  an  unexpected 
blow.  Through  the  treachery  of  his  own  wife,  James 
Kirkcaldy,  who  had  hitherto  successfully  acted  as  his 
brother's  agent  with  the  Court  of  France,  was  captured, 
together  with  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  which  Mary 
had  supplied  from  her  dowry,  and  on  which  the  Castilians 
were  depending.  Within  the  Castle,  Maitland  was  as  firm 
and  uncompromising  as  the  Governor  himself;  indeed, 
his  enemies  attributed  the  obstinate  resistance  of  the 
soldier  to  the  '  enchantment '  cast  over  him  by  the 
statesman.  But  though  the  Secretary's  mental  vigour 
was  undiminished,  his  bodily  health  was  so  shattered 
that,  when  it  was  intended  to  discharge  the  heavy 
ordnance,  he  had  to  be  carried  down  into  the  low 
vault  of  'David's  Tower,'  as  he  could  not  'abide  the 
shot.' 

For  all  this,  there  was  no  wavering  on  the  part  of 
Kirkcaldy.  He  felt  the  fullest  confidence  as  to  his 
ability  to  hold  out,  so  long  as  he  had  Morton  alone 
to  deal  with;  and  he  believed  that  fear  of  irritating 
the  French  Court,  and  unwillingness  to  incur  the  heavy 
expenses  of  sending  a  siege  train  to  Scotland  might  yet 
deter  Elizabeth  from  lending  active  assistance  to  the 
Regent.  In  spite  of  the  besiegers'  utmost  efforts  to 
prevent  him,  he  continued  the  work  of  fortifying  the 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  145 

Castle  with  earth,  stone,  and  timber;  and  indeed,  in 
his  determination  to  'give  the  Earl  of  Morton  and  all 
his  men  of  war  enough  to  do  to  wait  upon  him,'  he 
omitted  nothing  that  experience  could  suggest  or  courage 
carry  out,  to  add  to  the  natural  strength  of  the  fortress. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Captain,  the  six  or  seven  score 
fighting  men  that  made  up  his  garrison  were  not  all 
animated  with  the  same  spirit.  Not  one  of  them  had 
ever  stood  a  siege  before,  and  the  hardships  which  they 
had  to  undergo  were  beginning  to  tell  on  them  both 
morally  and  physically.  Obliged,  with  but  little  inter- 
mission, to  fight  their  guns  by  day,  and  by  night  to 
repair  the  damage  done  to  their  outworks,  and  having 
to  subsist  on  the  one  pint  of  water  and  the  scant  rations 
of  salt-beef  that  Lady  Kirkcaldy  distributed  to  them  daily, 
'they  were  all  ill-like  in  the  face  with  over- working  or 
watching.'  They  were  beginning  to  feel  too  that  there 
was  no  remedy  or  recompense  to  be  looked  for  at 
Grange's  hands  ;  and  some  of  them,  indeed,  were 
already  anxious  to  make  terms  for  themselves.  As  the 
Captain's  increasing  watchfulness  left  them  no  opportunity 
of  communicating  directly  with  the  enemy,  they  cast  a 
letter  enclosed  in  a  glove  over  the  walls,  trusting  to 
the  finder  to  take  it  to  those  for  whom  it  was  intended. 
It  contained  a  request  that,  if  there  were  any  hope  of 
mercy  for  the  garrison,  a  certain  sign  should  be  made  in 
a  certain  place,  and  they  would  come  forth.  On  the  part 
of  Morton,  nothing  was  left  undone  to  foster  this  spirit  of 
mutiny;  and  his  secret  agents  were  not  only  authorised 
to  promise  a  free  pardon  in  his  name,  to  such  as  were 
already  planning  to  desert  from  the  Castle,  but  also  to 
bribe  the  others,  by  distributing  two  thousand  crowns 
amongst  them. 

The  discontent  that  was  spreading  amongst  his  men 
did  not  escape  the  Captain's  vigilance.  Calling  them 
together,  he  asked  if  any  amongst  them  wished  to 


146  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

abandon  the  cause.  Lord  Home's  resolute  reply,  that 
he  would  serve  as  a  private  soldier,  both  by  day  and 
night,  'stopped  the  mouths  of  the  meaner  sort,'  though, 
according  to  Killegrew,  they  meant  to  make  a  very 
different  answer,  and  though  many  were  anxious  to  come 
away,  if  only  they  might  well  get  forth. 

In  the  meantime,  the  negotiations  which  had  been 
dragging  on  between  the  Regent  and  the  English  Court, 
had  effected  a  definite  result.  On  the  i3th  of  April,  a  pro- 
clamation issued  in  the  name  of  King  James,  announced 
that  the  assistance  of  England  had  been  secured,  with  a 
view  to  putting  an  end  to  the  Civil  War,  and  that  a  body 
of  English  troops  would  soon  arrive  to  reinforce  the 
besieging  army.  Twelve  days  later,  an  English  con- 
tingent, under  Sir  William  Drury,  arrived  in  Edinburgh, 
and  a  final  summons  was  sent  to  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy 
of  Grange,  and  the  other  holders  and  retainers  of  the 
Castle  of  Edinburgh,  to  surrender  it,  with  the  artillery, 
munitions,  and  household  stuff;  and  to  remove,  devoid, 
and  rid  themselves,  their  wives  and  servants  forth  of  it, 
within  six  hours.  Being  intended  for  the  wavering 
soldiers,  and  not  for  their  resolute  leader,  this  summons 
was  not  delivered  to  the  Governor  in  writing,  but  was 
publicly  proclaimed  by  a  herald.  To  drown  his  voice 
Kirkcaldy  ordered  his  drums  to  beat;  and  the  only 
reply  he  vouchsafed  to  make  was,  that  he  wist  not  what 
the  messenger  had  declared. 

The  ordnance  sent  from  England  was  disembarked  at 
Leith,  on  the  2  6th  of  April.  Next  day,  besides  running 
up  the  Scottish  Queen's  standard,  the  Governor  of  the 
Castle  hoisted  '  a  banner  of  red  colour,  denouncing  war 
and  defiance,  upon  the  chief  tower  of  the  Castle  called 
King  David's  Tower.'  Including  'both  tag  and  rag,' 
there  were  at  that  moment  one  hundred  and  ninety-two 
persons  within  the  Castle.  Forty-two  of  them  were 
women,  and  thirteen  were  boys.  That  left  a  hundred 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  147 

and  thirty  men,  not  all  soldiers,  besides  the  Governor 
himself;  and  of  these  according  to  Killegrew's  informa- 
tion, eighteen  of  the  best  would  fain  have  been  out. 

It  took  much  longer  than  had  been  anticipated  to 
get  the  ordnance  into  position.  By  the  5th  of  May,  of 
twenty-four  pieces  of  battery  and  four  mortars,  there  were 
but  six  planted ;  and  the  month  was  half  through  before 
'  the  artillery  of  England  was  placed  about  the  Castle 
of  Edinburgh  in  this  manner.  On  the  north  side  of 
Mr  John  Thornton's  lodging  on  the  Castle  Hill  lay  the 
cannon  royal,  and  two  other  cannons;  on  the  crofts  of 
the  Grey  Friars,  lay  three  great  culverin;  at  the  Scots 
crofts  lay  six  great  culverin  ;  above  the  west  side  of  St 
Cuthbert's  Kirk  lay  two  Scottish  iron  pieces  ;  at  the  north 
side  two  Scots  great  culverins,  and  my  Lord  Argyle's 
cannon,  with  four  pott  pieces ;  at  the  lang  gait  on  the 
east  side  of  the  said  pott  pieces  lay  three  small  pieces, 
with  strong  and  deep  trenches  in  all  parts.'  At  length, 
on  Sunday,  the  i7th  of  May,  at  one  in  the  afternoon, 
'  some  of  the  pieces  began  to  speak  such  language  that 
it  made  them  in  the  Castle  think  more  of  God  than  they 
did  before.'  When  the  first  '  tier '  of  ordnance  was  dis- 
charged, the  women  within  the  walls  uttered  a  great  and 
lamentable  cry,  'terming  the  day  and  hour  black.'  '  The 
soldiers,  however,'  says  Drury,  '  showed  themselves  in  no 
small  companies  here  and  there,  but  especially  they 
showed  many  on  the  top  of  St  David's  Tower,  with 
great  pride  displaying  two  ensigns,  and  shooting  at  every 
advantage  they  saw.'  To  what  good  effect  the  Castilians 
plied  their  guns  may  be  learnt  from  Birrell's  Diary. 
'  Ther  wes,'  he  says,  '  a  very  grate  slaughter  amongst  the 
English  canoniers,  sundries  of  them  having  ther  legges 
and  armes  torne  from  their  bodies  in  the  aire  by  the 
viholence  of  the  grape  shot.' 

On  the  2ist  of  May  the  English  gunners  began  batter- 
ing St  David's  Tower ;  and  two  days  later  a  large  portion 


148  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

of  it  came  crushing  down.  The  26th  saw  the  capture  of 
an  important  position  called  the  'Spur.'  This  disaster, 
combined  with  the  growing  dissatisfaction  of  his  men, 
who  complained  that  Lady  Grange  scanted  their  victuals, 
that  were  scant  enough  already,  at  length  obliged  the 
Governor  to  beat  a  parley.  A  two  days'  truce  was  granted, 
and  negotiations  were  opened  with  a  view  to  the  surrender 
of  the  Castle.  The  three  thousand  great  shot,  which, 
according  to  Drury's  computation,  had  been  fired  at  the 
fortress,  had  wrought  such  havoc  that  no  practicable 
means  of  exit  was  left.  In  order  to  meet  Drury,  Grange, 
Pitarrow,  and  Robert  Melville  had  to  be  let  down  by  a 
rope  over  the  wall. 

The  conditions  demanded  by  the  besieged  were  that 
they  should  have  surety  for  the  lives  and  livings  of  all 
that  were  within  the  Castle,  that  Lethington  and  Lord 
Home,  because  of  particular  quarrels  might  go  into 
England,  and  that  Grange  should  remain  in  Scot- 
land, with  a  licence  to  depart  the  realm  if  he  found 
himself  ill-used.  Morton  was  quite  willing  to  spare  the 
soldiers,  and  he  took  special  care  that  they  should  be 
informed  of  it ;  but  he  insisted  that  the  surrender  should 
be  unconditional  as  regarded  Grange,  Lethington,  and 
nine  others,  including  the  two  goldsmiths  who  had  coined 
money  for  the  use  of  the  Castilians.  On  hearing  this, 
Kirkcaldy  went  back  to  the  Castle  determined  to  hold 
out  to  the  last.  But  the  men  were  now  in  open  mutiny. 
They  declared  their  determination  of  hanging  Maitland 
from  the  battlements  if  he  did  not  urge  Grange  to  sur- 
render, and  of  handing  the  Governor  himself  to  Morton, 
if  he  still  refused  to  yield.  There  was  no  alternative. 
On  the  2  gth  of  May  Sir  William  gave  himself  up  to 
Drury  who,  in  recognition  of  the  courage  which  he 
had  displayed,  allowed  him  to  leave  the  Castle  with  his 
arms.  The  citizens  had  suffered  too  much  at  his  hands 
to  entertain  any  generous  feeling  towards  him,  and  as  he 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  149 

and  his  companions  were  led  through  the  crowd  to  the 
lodgings  of  Drury,  jeers  and  insults  were  heaped  upon 
him.  The  balladist  Semple  has  described  the  scene  : — 

'  Thair  wes  compleit  the  prophecie  of  Knox  : 
Doun  fra  that  Crag  Kirkcaldy  sail  reteir, 
With  schame  and  sclander  lyke  ane  hundit  fox.' 

With  gild  *  of  pepile  sa  thay  brocht  thame  doun, 
As  birdis  but  plumis,  spulizeit  of  the  nest : 
Part  cryde  :  '  quhair  is  he  ?  lat  vs  se  the  loun  ; 
Go  to  and  staen  him  ;  lat  him  tak  na  rest. ' 

Quhen  thay  yt  buir  him  saw  thame  selfis  opprest, 
Thay  cryit  for  succour  for  to  saue  thair  lyuis  : 
The  Generallis  lugeing,  thair  thay  thocht  it  best, 
Thay  led  him  in,  thay  war  sa  red  t  for  wyuis.' 

For  three  days  Grange  was  allowed  to  go  about  freely, 
rather  as  a  guest  than  a  captive,  but  at  the  end  of  that 
time  he  was  treated  as  a  prisoner. 

One  of  Morton's  first  cares,  after  the  surrender  of 
Edinburgh  Castle,  was  to  demand  that  the  jewels  which 
Queen  Mary  was  known  to  have  left  there  when  she  fled 
from  her  capital,  should  be  delivered  up  to  him.  His  greed, 
however,  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  greater 
part  of  the  treasure  upon  which  he  was  so  characteristic- 
ally anxious  to  lay  hands,  had  already  been  disposed  of. 
Indeed,  the  Queen's  diamonds  had  been  the  chief  source 
of  the  garrison's  credit  during  the  three  years  that  the 
Castle  was  held  for  her.  In  1570  several  objects  of 
value  had  been  sent  by  Kirkcaldy  to  be  sold  in  London. 
Elizabeth,  however,  had  g°t  information,  and  not  only 
stopped  the  sale,  but  ordered  the  articles  to  be  detained. 
The  Governor  met  with  better  success  in  France;  and 
when,  in  the  following  spring,  his  brother  arrived  in  Leith 
with  munitions  and  stores,  it  was  commonly  reported  that 
they  had  been  purchased  with  the  price  of  some  of  Mary's 
diamonds. 

*  clamour.  t  afraid. 


150  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

The  next  year,  another  parcel  of  jewels  was  said  to 
have  been  sold  to  a  secret  agent  of  Queen  Elizabeth's 
for  two  thousand  five  hundred  pounds.  At  various  other 
times,  objects  of  value  had  been  given  in  pledge  to 
merchants  and  others  for  moneys  advanced  to  supply 
the  needs  of  the  beleaguered  garrison.  There  was  con- 
sequently but  little  left  at  the  time  of  the  surrender; 
but  to  prevent  even  that  from  falling  into  Morton's 
hands,  some  of  it  had  been  hidden  in  a  crevice  of  the 
Castle  rock.  A  confession  having  been  extracted  from 
Morsman  to  the  effect  that  at  the  last  moment  he  had 
made  over  certain  valuables  to  Kirkcaldy,  the  Governor 
was  called  upon  to  restore  them.  He  replied  that  he 
had,  indeed,  got  some  gear  in  an  evil  favoured  clout, 
but  did  not  see  what  it  was,  and  had  thrown  it  into  an 
open  coffer  in  his  room.  He  protested  that  he  had  taken 
nothing  out  of  the  Castle  but  the  clothes  on  his  back  and 
four  crowns  in  his  purse. 

From  the  moment  that  Grange  and  Lethington  sur- 
rendered as  prisoners  to  the  English,  Morton  resolved 
that  their  lives  should  pay  the  penalty  of  their  open 
defiance  of  his  authority,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
declare  that  he  thought  them  '  fitter  for  God  than  for  this 
world,  for  sundry  considerations.'  He  accordingly  de- 
manded that  they  should  be  given  over  to  him ;  and  after 
some  hesitation  real  or  pretended,  Elizabeth  granted  his 
request.  Whilst  she  still  seemed  to  be  wavering  the  two 
prisoners  wrote  the  following  appeal  to  Burghley : — 

'  MY  LORD, — The  malice  of  our  enemies  is  the  more 
increased  against  us,  that  they  have  seen  us  rendered  in 
the  Queen's  Majesty's  will,  and  now  to  seek  refuge  at  her 
highness's  hands.  And,  therefore,  we  doubt  not  but  they 
will  go  about  by  all  means  possible  to  procure  mischief; 
yea,  that  their  cruel  minds  shall  lead  them  to  that  im- 
pudency  to  crave  our  bloods  at  her  Majesty's  hands.  But 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  151 

whatsoever  their  malice  be,  we  cannot  fear  that  it  shall 
take  success ;  knowing  with  how  gracious  a  Princess  we 
have  to  do,  which  hath  given  so  many  good  proofs  to  the 
world  of  her  clemency  and  mild  nature,  that  we  cannot 
mistrust  that  the  first  example  of  the  contrary  shall  be 
shewn  upon  us.  We  take  this  to  be  her  very  natural, 
Parcere  subjectis,  et  debellare  superbos. 

'  We  have  rendered  ourselves  to  her  Majesty,  which  to 
our  own  countrymen  we  would  never  have  done,  for  no 
extremity  that  might  have  come.  We  trust  her  Majesty 
will  not  put  us  out  of  her  hands  to  make  any  others, 
especially  our  mortal  enemy,  our  masters.  If  it  will  please 
her  Majesty  to  extend  her  most  gracious  clemency  towards 
us,  she  may  be  as  assured  to  have  us  as  perpetually  at  her 
devotion  as  any  of  this  nation,  yea,  as  any  subject  of  her 
own ;  for  now  with  honour  we  may  oblige  ourselves  to  her 
Majesty  farther  than  before  we  might,  and  her  Majesty's 
benefit  will  bind  us  perpetually.  In  the  case  we  are  in, 
we  must  confess  we  are  of  small  value;  yet  may  her 
Majesty  put  us  in  ease,  that  perhaps  hereafter  we  will  be 
able  to  serve  her  Majesty's  turn,  which  occasion  being 
offered,  assuredly  there  shall  be  no  inlack  of  good-will. 
Your  Lordship  knoweth  already  what  our  request  is ;  we 
pray  your  Lordship  to  further  it.  There  was  never  time 
wherein  your  Lordship's  friendship  might  stand  us  in  such 
stead.  As  we  have  oftentimes  heretofore  tasted  thereof, 
so  we  humbly  pray  you  let  it  not  inlack  us  now,  in  time  of 
this  our  great  misery,  when  we  have  more  need  than  ever 
we  had.  Whatsoever  our  deservings  have  been,  forget 
not  your  own  good  natural.  If,  by  your  Lordship's 
mediation,  her  Majesty  conserve  us,  your  Lordship  shall 
have  us  perpetually  bound  to  do  you  service. 

'  Let  not  the  misreports  of  our  enemies  prevail  against 
us.  When  we  are  in  her  Majesty's  hands  she  may  make 
us  what  pleaseth  her. 

'From  Edinburgh,  the  ist  June  1573-' 


iS2  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

The  petition  was  unheeded.  A  few  days  later  Drury 
was  instructed  to  hand  over  his  prisoners  to  the  Regent. 
In  the  meantime  Maitland  had  died, — it  is  difficult  to 
determine  whether  it  was  from  natural  causes  or  'after 
the  old  Roman  fashion,  to  prevent  his  coming  to  the 
shambles' — and  Grange  was  left  to  bear  the  brunt  of 
Morton's  revenge. 

On  the  3rd  of  August,  Sir  William  Kirkcaldy  and  his 
brother  James,  together  with  Morsman  and  Cockie,  the 
two  goldsmiths  who  had  coined  money  in  the  Queen's 
name,  were  brought  to  trial  and  condemned  to  death. 
Between  the  passing  of  the  sentence  and  its  execution  in 
the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  a  final  and  frantic  effort 
was  made  to  save  the  Laird  of  Grange.  Five  score  gentle- 
men,— kinsmen,  friends,  and  well-wishers, — the  least  of 
them  having  heritage  worth  five  hundred  marks  Scots  a 
year,  offered  to  become  servants,  themselves  and  their 
offspring,  perpetually,  to  the  houses  of  Angus  and  Morton, 
by  giving  their  bond  of  man-rent;  and,  in  addition  to  that, 
to  pay  twenty  pounds  annually,  for  more  thraldom.  They 
further  promised  to  hand  over  twenty  thousand  pounds 
to  the  Regent,  before  the  following  Michaelmas,  and  to 
restore  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  the  Queen's  jewels 
that  were  in  sundry  hands.  But  Morton  was  under  the 
influence  of  a  power  greater  than  even  his  own  avarice. 
The  offers,  he  admitted  to  Burghley,  were  as  large  as 
could  possibly  have  been  made;  yet,  he  added,  'con- 
sidering what  has  been,  and  is,  daily  spoken  by  the 
preachers,  that  God's  plague  will  not  cease  till  the  land 
be  purged  of  blood,  and  having  regard  that  such  as  are 
interested  by  the  death  of  their  friends,  the  destruction  of 
their  houses,  and  the  away-taking  of  their  goods,  could 
not  be  satisfied  by  any  offer  made  to  me  in  particular, 
I  deliberated  to  let  justice  proceed.' 

It  was  through  David  Lindsay,  the  minister  of  Leith, 
who  visited  Kirkcaldy  after  the  trial,  that  this  last  appeal 


KIRKCALDY  OF  GRANGE  153 

for  mercy  was  made.  When  he  returned  with  a  stern 
refusal  the  condemned  man  said  to  him :  '  Mr  David,  for 
our  old  friendship  and  for  Christ's  sake  leave  me  not.' 
A  little  later,  when  he  saw  the  scaffold  prepared  at  the 
Cross,  the  day  fair  and  the  sun  shining  brightly,  so  marked 
a  change  came  over  him  that  Lindsay,  noticing  it,  inquired 
what  affected  him.  'Faith,  Mr  David,'  replied  he,  'I 
perceive  well  now  that  Mr  Knox  was  the  true  servant  of 
God,  and  that  his  threatenings  are  accomplished.'  He 
then  desired  Lindsay  to  repeat  Knox's  words.  The 
minister  did  so,  adding  that  Knox  had  told  him  that  he 
had  been  earnest  with  God  for  Grange ;  that  he  was  sorry 
for  what  should  befall  his  body  for  the  love  he  bore  him ; 
but  that  he  was  assured  there  was  mercy  for  his  soul. 
Kirkcaldy  seemed  much  comforted  and  encouraged  by 
this.  As  the  fatal  hour  drew  near  he  begged  Lindsay  to 
accompany  him  to  the  scaffold :  '  I  hope  in  God,  that 
after  men  shall  think  I  am  passed  and  gone,  I  shall  give 
you  a  token  of  the  assurance  of  that  mercy  to  my  soul 
according  to  the  speech  of  that  man  of  God.' 

In  the  afternoon  the  Laird  of  Grange,  and  Morsman,  who 
was  to  be  executed  with  him — James  Kirkcaldy  and  Cockie 
were  to  be  hanged  later  in  the  day — were  drawn  backwards 
from  their  prison  to  the  gibbet.  It  was  about  four  o'clock, 
'the  sun  being  west,  about  the  north-west  corner  of  the 
steeple,  when  Sir  William  was  thrust  off  the  ladder.  As 
he  was  hanging,  his  face  was  set  toward  the  east;  but 
within  a  prettie  space  turned  about  to  the  west  against  the 
sun,  and  so  remained ;  at  which  time  Mr  David  marked 
him,  when  all  supposed  he  was  dead,  to  lift  up  his  hands 
which  were  bound  before  him,  and  to  lay  them  down 
again  softlie ;  which  moved  him  with  exclamation  to  glorify 
God  before  all  the  people.' 

Of  the  man  who  thus  ended  his  eventful  life,  his  con- 
temporary Melville  has  written  :  '  He  was  humble,  gentle, 
and  meek,  like  a  lamb  in  the  house,  but  like  a  lion  in 


154  FAMOUS  SCOTS 

the  fields.  He  was  a  lusty,  strong,  and  well-proportioned 
personage,  hardy,  and  of  a  magnanimous  courage,  secret 
and  prudent  in  all  his  enterprises,  so  that  never  one  that 
he  made  or  devised  misgave,  where  he  was  present  him- 
self. When  he  was  victorious  he  was  very  merciful,  and 
naturally  liberal,  an  enemy  to  greediness  and  ambition, 
and  a  friend  to  all  men  in  adversity.  He  fell  frequently 
in  trouble  in  protecting  innocent  men  from  such  as  would 
oppress  them,  so  that  these  his  worthy  qualifications  were 
also  partly  causes  and  means  of  his  wreck ;  for  they  pro- 
moted him  so,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  that  some  loved 
him  for  his  religion,  uprightness,  and  manliness ;  others, 
again,  depended  upon  him  for  his  good  fortune  and 
apparent  promotion,  whereby  divers  of  them  hoped  to  be 
advanced  and  rewarded,  supposing  that  offices  and  honours 
could  not  fail  to  fall  to  him.  All  which  he  wanted  through 
his  own  default;  for  he  had  fled  from  avarice,  and  ab- 
horred ambition,  and  refused  sundry  great  offices  even  to 
be  Regent,  which  were  in  his  offer  as  well  as  other  great 
benefices  and  pensions.  Thus  wanting  place  and  sub- 
sistence to  reward  he  was  soon  abandoned  by  his  greedy 
and  ambitious  defenders :  for  when  they  saw  him  at  a 
strait,  they  drew  to  others,  whom  they  perceived  to  aim 
at  more  profitable  marks.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  as 
much  envied  by  those  who  were  of  a  vile  and  unworthy 
nature,  of  whom  many  have  made  tragical  ends  for  their 
too  great  avarice  and  ambition,  as  shortly  after  did  the 
Earl  of  Morton.  This  gallant  gentleman  perished  for 
being  too  little  ambitious  and  greedy.' 

Nothing  that  has  been  recorded  in  these  pages  con- 
tradicts Melville's  eulogy.  And  posterity  may  be  content 
to  adopt  his  estimate  of  the  character  of  an  honourable 
man,  a  brave  soldier,  and  a  sincere  patriot. 

THE  END. 


INDEX 


ARRAN,  Earl  of,  besieges  St 
Andrews,  29. 

BALNEAVES,  HENRY,  at  St 
Andrews,  28. 

sent  to  Henry  VIII.,  30. 

a  prisoner  in  France,  42. 

BEATON,  murder  of  Cardinal, 
20-25. 

BOTHWELL  accused  of  murder- 
ing Darnley,  84. 

carries  off  Mary,  85. 

marries  Mary,  89. 

retreats  to  Borthwick 

Castle,  89. 

at  Carberry,  90. 

pursued  by  Kirkcaldy,  94. 

CAITHNESS,  Bishop  of,  writes 

to  Wharton,  56. 
CARBERRY  HILL,  90. 
CARMICHAEL,  one  of  Beaton's 

murderers,  24. 
a  prisoner  in  France,  42. 

DARNLEY,  marriage  of,  82. 
murdered,  84. 

EVERS,  Lord,  Governor  of 
Berwick,  53. 

EVERS,  Ralph,  meets  Kirk- 
caldy in  single  combat,  54. 

GRANGE,  the,  9. 
GUISE,    Mary  of,  attempts   to 
check  the  Reformation,  63. 

enters  Perth,  67. 

death  of,  79. 


HAMILTON,  James,   a  hostage 

at  St  Andrews,  27. 
HENRY  VIII.  negotiates  with 

James  V.,  n. 

at  war  with  James  V.,  15. 

sends  help  to  St  Andrews, 

30. 

JAMES  V.,  n. 

and  the  Treasurer,  12. 

threatens  the  Prelates,  12. 

rejects  alliance  with  Eng- 
land, 15. 

defeated  at  Solway  Moss, 

16. 

at  Halyards,  16. 

,  death  of,  17. 

JEWELS,  the  Queen's  claimed, 
149. 

KIRKCALDY,  James,  13. 

marries  Helen  Leslie,  18. 

his  brother's  agent,  144. 

betrayed  by  his  wife,  144. 

executed,  153 

KIRKCALDY,  John,  a  prisoner 
in  England,  53. 

attacked  by  Durie,  118. 

KIRKCALDY,  Sir  George  de,  10. 

KIRKCALDY,  Sir  James,  10. 

appointed  Treasurer,  10. 

opposed  to  Beaton,  10. 

arrests  Sir  James  Hamil- 
ton, II. 

negotiates  with  Henry 

VIIL,  ii. 

accused  of  Heresy,  12. 

denounces  the  Prelates,  12. 

plot  against  him,  13. 

plots  against  Beaton,  21. 


156 


INDEX 


KIRKCALDY,  Sir  James,  at  St 

Andrews,  28. 

a  prisoner  in  France,  42. 

,  death  of,  53. 

KIRKCALDY,  Sir   William  de, 

10. 
KIRKCALDY,  Sir  William,  birth 

of,  18. 

with  James  V.,  16. 

at  the  King's  death,  18. 

educated  in  France,  20. 

at  the  murder  of  Beaton, 

22. 

sent  to  Henry  VIII.,  30. 

returns  to  St  Andrews,  32. 

a  prisoner  in  France,  42. 

escapes     from      Mt.    St. 

Michel,  45. 

returns  to  Scotland,  47. 

secret  agent  in  France,  48. 

serves  under  Henry  II., 

48. 
offers  his  services  to  Mary 

Tudor,  51. 

returns  to  Scotland,  52. 

meets     Evers    in    single 

combat,  54. 
negotiates  with  Wharton, 

56. 
his  interview  with  Knox, 

67. 

writes  to  Sir  H.  Percy,  68. 

sets   forth    the   Policy  of 

the  Congregation,  69. 
declares  himself  with  the 

Protestants,  72. 

at  the  siege  of  Leith,  73. 

his  house  destroyed,  76 

harasses    the    French    in 

Fife,  77. 
reported  to  be  wounded, 

78. 

Knox's  praise  of,  78. 

besieges    Castle    Semple, 

So. 

nearlycapturesHuntly,8i. 

opposes  the  marriage  with 

Darnley,  81. 


KIRKCALDY,  Sir  William,  in 
the  Round  About  Raid,  82. 

escapes  to  England,  83. 

returns  to  Scotland,  83. 

writes  to  Cecil  concerning 

Darnley's  murder,  85. 

pursues  Mary  and  Both- 

well,  89. 

at  Carberry,  90. 

protests  against  the  treat- 
ment of  Mary,  92. 

pursues  Bothwell,  94. 

Governor  of  Edinburgh 

Castle,  97. 

at  Langside,  99. 

disapproves  of  Murray's 

policy,  ico. 

challenges  Morton,  103. 

rescues  Maitland,  105. 

his  intentions  suspected, 

108. 

justifies  his  conduct,  109. 

his  attitude  towards  Len- 
nox, 115. 

forcibly  rescues  a  prisoner, 

119. 

denounced  by  Knox,  120. 

prepares  for  a  siege,  125. 

writes  a  ballad,  126. 

his  challenge,  127. 

justifies  his  conduct,  128. 

his    challenge   taken    up, 

133- 

surrenders  to  Drury,  148. 

his  appeal  to  Burghley, 

150. 

appeal  to  Morton,  152. 

his  execution,  153. 

his  character,  153. 

KNOX,  John,  at  St  Andrews, 
28. 

a  prisoner  in  France,  41. 

returns  to  England,  47. 

preaches  in  Perth,  65. 

urges  an  appeal  to  Eng- 
land, 67. 

denounces  Kirkcaldy,  120. 

his  death,  141. 


INDEX 


157 


LANGSIDE,  battle  of,  99. 
LEITH  besieged  by  the  Con- 
gregation, 73. 

siege  of,  raised,  74. 

LENNOX    appointed     Regent, 

US- 

his  death,  135. 

LESLEY,  John,  one  of  Beaton's 

murderers,  24. 
LESLEY,     Norman,     one      of 

Beaton's  murderers,  21. 

a  prisoner  in  France,  42. 

death  of,  49. 

LESLIE,  Helen,  13. 

married  to  James   Kirk- 

caldy,  1 8. 

betrays  her  husband. 

LINDSAY,    Sir    David,    at    St 

Andrews,  28. 

MAITLAND  of  Lethington  joins 
the  Congregation,  73. 

impeached,  102. 

finds  refuge  in  Edinburgh 

Castle,  105. 

during  the  siege,  144. 

appeals  to  Burghley,  151. 

his  death,  152. 

MAR  appointed  Regent,  136. 

his  death,  141. 

MARY  STUART  returns  to  Scot- 
land, 81. 

marries  Darnley,  82. 

pursues  the  malcontents, 

82. 

carried  off  by  Bothwell, 

85. 

marries  Bothwell,  89. 

retreats  to  Borthwick 

Castle,  89. 


MARY  STUART  at  Carberry, 
90. 

escapes  from  Lochleven, 

97- 

takes     the    field    against 

Murray,  98. 

at  Langside,  99. 

MORTON    appointed     Regent, 

141. 
MURRAY    appointed    Regent, 

97- 

takes    the    field    against 

Mary,  98. 

at  Langside,  99. 

death  of,  106. 

PERTH,  religious  riots  in,  66. 

the  Congregation  departs 

from,  67. 

Mary  of  Guise  enters,  67. 

PlTTENWEEM,  Prior  of,  14. 

RIZZIO  murdered,  84. 
ROUND  ABOUT  RAID,  82. 

SEMPLE,  poetical  appeal  to 
Kirkcaldy,  116. 

his   description  of  Kirk- 

caldy's  surrender,  149. 

SINCLAIR,  Master  of,  Kirk- 
caldy's  comrade,  76. 

ST  ANDREWS,  Castle  of,  be- 
sieged, 26-40. 

STIRLING,  the  Raid  of,  134. 

STROZZI  at  the  siege  of  St 
Andrews,  37. 

WHARTON  negotiates  with 
Kirkcaldy,  58. 


FAMOUS      SCOTS      SERIES 

T lie  following  Volumes  are  in  preparation : — 

GEORGE  BUCHANAN.    By  ROBERT  WALLACE,  M.P. 

JEFFREY  AND  THE  EDINBURGH    REVIEWERS.     By 
Sir  HUGH  GILZEAN  REID. 

ADAM  SMITH.    By  HECTOR  C.  MACPKERSON. 
MUNGO  PARK.    By  T.  BANKS  MACLACHLAN. 
ROBERT  FERGUSSON.    By  A.  B.  GROSART. 
JAMES  THOMSON.    By  WILLIAM  BAYNE. 
DAVID  HUME.    By  Professor  CALDERWOOD. 
THOMAS  REID.    By  Professor  CAMPBELL  FRASER. 


OPINIONS    OF   THE    PRESS    ON    THE 
"FAMOUS  SCOTS"  SERIES. 

Of  SIR  WALTER  SCOTT,  by  GEORGE  SAINTSBURY, 

The  Pall  Mall  Gazette  says  :— 

"Mr  Saintsbury's  miniature  is  a  gem  of  its  kind.  .  .  .  Mr  Saintsbury's  critique 
of  the  Waverley  Novels  will,  I  venture  to  think,  despite  all  that  has  been  written 
upon  them,  discover  fresh  beauties  for  their  admirers." 

Of  THOMAS  CARLYLE,  by  H.  C.  MACPHERSON, 

The  Literary  World  says : — 

"  One  of  this  very  best  little  books  on  Carlyle  yet  written,  far  out-weighing  in 
value  some  more  pretentious  works  with  which  we  are  familiar." 

Of  ALLAN  RAMSAY,  by  OLIPHANT  SMEATON, 

The  Scotsman  says  : — 

"  It  is  not  a  patchwork  picture,  but  one  in  which  the  writer,  taking  genuine 
interest  in  his  subject,  and  bestowing  conscientious  pains  on  his  task,  has  his 
materials  well  in  hand,  and  has  used  them  to  produce  a  portrait  that  is  both  life- 
like and  well  balanced." 

Of  HUGH  MILLER,  by  W.  KEITH  LEASK, 

The  Expository  Times  says  : — 

"  It  is  a  right  good  book  and  a  right  true  biography.  .  .  .  There  is  a  very  fine 
sense  of  Hugh  Miller's  greatness  as  a  man  and  a  Scotsman  ;  there  is  also  a  fine 
choice  of  language  in  making  it  ours." 

Of  JOHN  KNOX,  by  A.  TAYLOR  INNES, 

Mr  Hay  Fleming  in  the  Bookman  says  : — 

"  A  masterly  delineation  of  those  stirring  times  in  Scotland,  and  of  that  famous 
Scot  who  helped  so  much  to  shape  them." 

Of  ROBERT  BURNS,  by  GABRIEL  SETOUN, 

The  New  Age  says  : — 

"  It  is  the  best  thing  on  Burns  we  have  yet  had,  almost  as  good  as  Carlyle's 
Essay  and  the  pamphlet  published  by  Dr  Nichol  of  Glasgow." 

Of  THE  BALLAD  ISTS,  by  JOHN  GEDDIE, 

The  Spectator  says  :  — 

"The  author  has  certainly  made  a  contribution  of  remarkable  value  to  the 
literary  history  of  Scotland.  We  do  not  know  of  a  book  in  which  the  subject  has 
been  treated  with  deeper  sympathy  or  out  of  a  fuller  knowledge." 

Of  RICHARD  CAMERON,  by  Professor  HERKLESS, 

The  Dundee  Courier  says  : — 

"  In  selecting  Professor  Herkless  to  prepare  this  addition  to  the  '  Famous  Scots 
Series'  of  books,  the  publishers  have  made  an  excellent  choice.  The  vigorous, 
manly  style  adopted  is  exactly  suited  to  the  subject,  and  Richard  Cameron  is 
presented  to  the  reader  in  a  manner  as  interesting  as  it  is  impressive.  .  .  . 
Professor  Herkless  has  done  remarkably  well,  and  the  portrait  he  has  so  cleverly 
delineated  of  one  of  Scotland's  most  cherished  heroes  is  one  that  will  never  fade." 


PRESS  OPINIONS  ON  "FAMOUS  SCOTS"  SERIES — continued 

Of  SIR  JAMES  YOUNG  SIMPSON,  by  EVE  BLANTYRE 
SIMPSON, 

The  Daily  Chronicle  says  : — 

\'  It  is  indeed  long  since  we  have  read  such  a  charmingly-written  biography  as 
this  little  Life  of  the  most  typical  and  '  Famous  Scot '  that  his  countrymen  have 
been  proud  of  since  the  time  of  Sir  Walter.  .  .  .  There  is  not  a  dull,  irrelevant,  or 
superfluous  page  in  all  Miss  Simpson's  booklet,  and  she  has  performed  the 
biographer's  chief  duty — that  of  selection — with  consummate  skill  and  judgment." 

Of  THOMAS  CHALMERS,  by  W.  GARDEN  BLAIKIE, 

The  Spectator  says  : — 

"  The  most  notable  feature  of  Professor  Blaikie's  book — and  none  could  be  more 
commendable — is  its  perfect  balance  and  proportion.  In  other  words,  justice  is 
done  equally  to  the  private  and  to  the  public  life  of  Chalmers,  if  possible  greater 
justice  than  has  been  done  by  Mrs  Oliphant." 

Of  JAMES  BOSWELL,  by  W.  KEITH  LEASK, 

The  Morning  Leader  says  : — 

"  Mr  W.  K.  Leask  has  approached  the  biographer  of  Johnson  in  the  only  possible 
way  by  which  a  really  interesting  book  could  have  been  arrived  at — by  way  of  the 
open  mind.  .  .  .  The  defence  of  Boswell  in  the  concluding  chapter  of  his  delightful 
study  is  one  of  the  finest  and  most  convincing  passages  that  have  recently  appeared 
in  the  field  of  British  biography." 

Of  TOBIAS  SMOLLETT,  by  OLIPHANT  SMEATON, 

The  Weekly  Scotsman  says  : — 

"The  book  is  written  in  a  crisp  and  lively  style.  .  .  .  The  picture  of  the  great 
novelist  is  complete  and  lifelike.  Not  only  does  Mr  Smeaton  give  a  scholarly 
sketch  and  estimate  of  Smollett's  literary  career,  he  constantly  keeps  the  reader  in 
conscious  touch  and  sympathy  with  his  personality,  and  produces  a  portrait  of  the 
man  as  a  man  which  is  not  likely  to  be  readily  forgotten." 

Of  FLETCHER  OF  SALTOUN,  by  W.  G.  T.  OMOND, 

The  Leeds  Mercury  says  : — 

"  Unmistakably  the  most  interesting  and  complete  story  of  the  life  of  Fletcher  of 
Saltoun  that  has  yet  appeared.  Mr  Omond  has  had  many  facilities  placed  at  his 
disposal,  and  of  these  he  has  made  excellent  use." 

Of  THE  BLACKWOOD  GROUP,  by  Sir  GEORGE  DOUGLAS, 

The  Weekly  Citizen  says  : — 

"  It  need  not  be  said  that  to  everyone  interested  in  the  literature  of  the  first  half 
of  the  century,  and  especially  to  every  Scotsman  so  interested, '  The  Blackwood 
Group'  is  a  phrase  abounding  in  promise.  And  really  Sir  George  Douglas  fulfils 
the  promise  he  tacitly  makes  in  his  title.  He  is  intimately  acquainted  not  only 
with  the  books  of  the  different  members  of  the  'group,'  but  also  with  their  environ- 
ment, social  and  otherwise.  Besides,  he  writes  with  sympathy  as  well  as  know- 
ledge." 

Of  NORMAN  MACLEOD,  by  JOHN  WELLWOOD, 

The  Star  says  : —  « 

"A  worthy  addition  to  the  '  Famous  Scots  Series'  is  that  of  Norman  Macleod, 
the  renowned  minister  of  the  Barony  in  Glasgow,  and  a  man  as  typical  of  every- 
thing generous  and  broadminded  in  the  State  Church  in  Scotland  as  Thomas 
Guthrie  was  in  the  Free  Churches.  The  biography  is  the  work  of  John  Wellwood, 
who  has  approached  it  with  proper  appreciation  of  the  robustness  of  the  subject." 


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